Shortly after taking office,\nPresident Donald Trump enacted several immigration policies that changed many\nlives. Notably, the Trump administration\nbegan to separate immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico\nborder, a policy otherwise known as the \u201czero tolerance policy\u201d or child\nseparation. The zero tolerance policy\nstarted under a pilot program in 2017, and continued throughout 2018. Under this policy, the Department of Justice prosecuted all\nadult aliens apprehended for crossing the border illegally, with no exception\ngiven to asylum seekers or those with minor children. Many children were taken away from their\nparents before their parents could be deported. In total, it is estimated that approximately\n5,500 families attempting to cross the southern border were separated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a lawsuit filed by the American\nCivil Liberties Union (ACLU), the parents of 545 children cannot be found. The ACLU, tasked with reuniting these\nfamilies, is currently seeking damages \u201con behalf of the immigrant children and\ntheir parents cruelly and inhumanely separated from each other in Arizona and\nat other places along the United States southern border by the U.S government.\u201d[1]<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n While some families or parents of the\nseparated children may prefer that their children remain in the United States\nto avoid the prospect of returning to the country where they were fleeing\npersecution, policies such as \u201czero tolerance\u201d are still born out of\ncruelty. Some may argue that the parents\nput their children in this situation, this notion fails to recognize the\nreasons migrants approach the U.S border. Most families leave their country of origin\nbecause they are fleeing poverty, violence, or persecution, reasons that often\nform the basis for asylum in the U.S. Nothing justifies what has been done\nto these families by the Trump administration and ongoing litigation about restitution\nand redressing of the harm done to these families will be ultimately decided by\nthe Courts. [1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/legal-document\/aiil-v-sessions-complaint<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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