HSS Struggles to Reunite Immigrant Children With Their Parents By Proposed Deadline

Those attempting to reunite immigrant children with their families have faced a series of obstacles following President Trump’s executive order.

On June 26th, a federal judge ruled that children under five years must be reunited with their parents within fifteen days of the ruling, and children older than five must be reunited within a month of the ruling. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar responded to the order and request for the judge by stating that the deadline was “extreme,” and that his department would probably request for an extension.

HHS has been ordered to bring children from shelters all around the country to Immigration Customs Enforcement facilities, where they will be reunited with their families and be detained together. The office only has until Tuesday to do so with children under the age of five, which could lead to a rushed process that could endanger the children themselves.

Azar stated to reporters via phone:

“We want this to be as compassionate a process as it humanly can be. We want to treat people as well as humanly possible going through this very difficult situation.”

However, Azar has also stated that he would rather either bring the children back home to their relatives or keep them in the U.S.

The latter could be difficult to achieve, as a 1997 federal consent decree prohibits the U.S. from detaining immigrant children for more than twenty days.

Azar also addressed said decree, stating:

“We’ve got a court order that requires at DHS after 20 days that you break families apart, that you separate children from families in ICE custody and send them to us. That’s one side. We now have a more recent court order requiring that we send those kids back to DHS and ICE custody indefinitely.”

He added that the latest order from the federal judge essentially invalidates the 1997 decree and that now the main task is placing the children into the custody of ICE.

House Oversight Committee leaders also asked the Trump Administration to provide a detailed account of all immigrants detained since the application of the “zero tolerance” policy. A letter was sent to Jeff Sessions, Kristjen Nielsen, and Azar, in which said information was requested. The letter was written by politicians from both parties and stated that the children should be reunited with their parents without further compromising their well-being.

However, the Justice Department has constantly reminded the public that immigrants who came across the border illegally will be charged criminally, even parents. While some parents have been deported already, sometimes even without their children, others are still waiting for a hearing.

Footage has been recently released of children having to go to an immigration court without a lawyer, having to defend themselves even while still handling the separation from their families.

The Trump Administration will soon answer to a judge, who accused the White House of using “chaotic” practices and causing intense emotional damage to the separated families.

Featured Image via Flickr/National Institutes of Health (NIH)