Trump policy of separating children and parents to stop but border arrests continue

DONALD TRUMP did what he said he couldn't do when he signed Wednesday afternoon (June 20) an executive order stopping the separation of children and parents after they cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump is trying to clean up the mess he made after months of separating children from their families and locking them up in detention camps, said the Asian Americans Advancing Justice in a press release. 

The legal advocacy civil rights organization says Trump may have caved in under political pressure  with this executive order, but Trump and his administration are still responsible for putting children in cages. 

“Trump’s new Executive Order does nothing to solve the inhumane treatment of families on the border. He still is putting children in jails," stated the Value Our  Families Coalition. "Trump is only covering up the mess he made because he came under political pressure. Families belong in communities, not cages. Trump must end the cruel mistreatment and disgrace in our country.”

READ: You can read the full executive order here.

Since the Trump administration launched their zero-tolerance policy which allowed the tearing children - infants to teens - from their parents, administration officials said they were only following the law (there is no law requiring the separation of children and parents) and only Congress could change the non-existent law.

Trump told the press that he didn't have the power to stop the policy.

Now, Trump’s executive order, titled “Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation,”  doesn't end the administration's zero-tolerance policy. It simply says the family can remain together under detention as their immigration case is resolved. 

"The executive order offers no plan to reunite the thousands of children who remain separated from their parents," stated the ACLU. "The administration has signaled that it will now detain all families with children, regardless of whether they are asylum seekers, or pose a flight risk or a danger to the community. These children don’t belong in jail at all, under any set of circumstances."

The fate of the 2,300 children already under detention remains uncertain. Authorities don't have the means of reuniting the children - spread across the country - with their parents in detention centers.

U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, whose mother was an immigrant from India, tweeted: "Trump's executive order does not fix this crisis. It gives no solution for the thousands of children who have been torn away from their families and remain separated."

UPDATED: May 21, 12:45 p.m. to include ACLU statement.

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