Lawyers Are the Guardian Angel of Children Separated from Their Migrant Parents 

Way before the Trump administration initiated its zero-tolerance immigration policy, children were getting separated from their parents at the border.

Starting in 2017, adults who crossed the border without legal permission were stopped and criminally charged.

There were no exceptions in place for parents with younger children. Due to the lack of reunification, families were being separated and unable to track and find their children. All illegal migrants were sent to the DOJ what prosecution.

This included undocumented asylum seekers. So what happened to the children?

Any child under the age of 18 was handed over to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Children were sent miles away from their parents to shelters and other places. This included infants and toddlers.

All of this occurred under the zero-tolerance immigration policy. This policy was viewed as a way to deter future illegal immigrants. As a result, children were taken from their parents without due process.

The Devastation

According to the Washington Post, some parents committed suicide while in separation from their children.

Human rights advocates toured the metal cages surrounded by benches where children were kept in Texas. There were no toys or books for these children. Children had to sleep under large foil sheets.

Many children have been seeing crying. Many of the children all left without adult supervision and without proper food, water, and sanitation.

If a left parent left a child like this, they would be held accountable. Yet, the government has not been held accountable for this cruel and immoral treatment.

How often did this happen? Between May and June of 2018, there were over 2,000 children separated from their parents at the border.

Realizing that children’s lives are at stake here, the ACLU filed a class action suit. The district judge issues the ruling that US immigration authorities must reunite separated families within a month.

Children under the age of five must be reunited with their parents within two weeks. Many children were not reunited with their parents according to the court’s deadline.

Many parents have been deported back to their own country without their children. And all of this happens under the cover of night.

Children are still behind bars at detention centers. According to the Amnesty International report, over 6,000 families had been separated between April and August of 2018.

In addition, unsupported allegations have been used to separate parents and children at the border, such as gang activity.

There is no exact number of children who have been separated from their parents.

That’s because there is no unified tracking system in place among the agencies. Family separation still occurs.

And the statistics are not reported in the DHS reports. And to make a bad situation even worse, there have been over 4,000 reports of sexual abuse to the children held at detention centers.

The government has stated that it may take up to two years to have these children reunited with their parents. It’s long nightmare.

It comes as no surprise that many of these children suffer from post trauma stress and feelings of abandonment.

All of these family separations occur at different borders, including California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Attorneys: The Guardian Angel of Children

Attorneys work to find the parents and children separated at the border. However, it’s a tough process because many parents have been deported without their children.

President Biden has formed a task force to fix this problem. His goal is to reunite families who were separated under the Trump administration immigration policy.

According to the Civil Rights project, this task force needs to return the deported parents under special protection to be reunited with their children.

The American Bar Association is urging Congress to take quick action and reunite separated families.

Many feel that the executive order and the task force don’t go far enough. There must be remedies for parents who were forced to be deported and leave their children behind.

All affected families must be helped. The order also does not guarantee any legal status. Only when there are new laws will this problem be solved. For the time being, it is only the attorneys and non-profit organizations there to help these children reunite with their parents.

Many of the attorneys are pro bono. President Biden’s new task force mandate needs to be expanded to include all separated families.

These families have been greatly harmed. It’s a traumatic experience for both parents and children to be separated.

if you or anyone else that you know needs help with a situation like this, contact a visa lawyer. A visa lawyer is the guardian of the children.

This type of lawyer has experience in helping families get back together who have been separated at the border.

Being reunited with your family members if you’ve been separated at the border is a difficult process. Don’t leave it up to the government. Call a lawyer today.

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