Biden Task Force Reunites 400 Kids Separated From Parents Under Trump – Pays For Them to Come Live and Work in U.S.
President Joe Biden‘s administration has reunited 400 children who were separated from their parents under then-President Donald Trump, and paid for the parents to live and work in the U.S. for at least 3 years.
On Feb. 2, 2021 — weeks after he was inaugurated — President Biden signed an executive order entitled “Executive Order on the Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families” to deal with the children Trump’s zero-tolerance policy tore away from their parents, and who were still separated when Biden took office.
According to an exclusive report by Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff of NBC News, that task force’s Executive Director Michelle Brané has confirmed that the administration has reunited 400 kids, and is paying for travel and other services for the families:
In the majority of recently reunited cases, Brané said, the parents were deported while the children remained in the U.S. Now, parents are given the opportunity to come to the U.S. on paid travel, bring other members of their family who are dependent on them, and live and work in the U.S. legally for three years.
Lawyers for the families have advocated for legal permanent status on behalf of separated families, but so far the Biden administration has not agreed to that provision.
Brané said the reunification also includes mental health services for families both before and after reunification. She said many of the families have suffered from profound mental health issues after their separation and counseling is often needed before they reunify.
“You don’t want to just throw kids into an environment with a parent they may not have seen for five years,” Brané said.
Lee Gelernt, an ACLU lawyer representing the families in a lawsuit, offered qualified praise for the progress, pointing out that “nearly 200” separated families have yet to be located.
In its most recent progress report, from May, the task force reported a total of 260 reunifications by the task force.
