Trump separating families

Donald Trump and his Administration are been heavily criticized worldwide due to their policy that separates immigrant parents and children when they cross the border from Mexico to the United States. These are some keys to understand more about it:

There is no law that forces Government to separate families, as Trump states falsely. The separation is due to a change of criteria from Attorney General announced in April that forces a “no tolerance” towards illegal entries in the country. Any adult trying to set foot in the United States undocumented is considered a criminal. Even if they don’t have a criminal record. Since minors cannot be put in jail, they are separated. A judge determines if parents and children are deported or can remain in the United States.

How many children have been separated from there families?

There are no official numbers. Between April 19 and June 6, 2,033 children where separated from their parents when trying to cross the border and enter the United States, according to Associated Press. To have a perspective, between October 2016 and February 2018 almost 1,800 children were separated from their families.

Did Barack Obama and George W. Bush break families apart?

Both Obama and Bush did deal with undocumented immigrants and immigration peaks. However, none of them applied this policy of separating children from their families. In 2005, Bush implemented a “no tolerance” policy through the program Streamline. The process included fast trials, and criminal processing for undocumented immigrants. However, immigrants with children were exempt. Obama did implement this program at times but did not process the people who entered for the first time and kept families together except for specific cases related to drug smuggling or serious criminal history.

We are completely scandalized by how far this Administration seems to be willing to go. Our mission of helping immigrants and our immigration attorneys are more than ever advocating for immigrants and their rights.