The Biden administration has reunited more than 600 migrant children with their families after thousands of children were separated under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy at the southern US border.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that nearly 1,000 children had yet to be reunited with their relatives, the second anniversary of a task force created to help with reunification. Many of these children are Central American migrants who were separated from their parents at the border and placed in detention centers. The effort is part of the Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration, meant to prevent millions of migrants from seeking asylum in the US during his tenure in the White House.
The policy is considered cruel and inhumane by critics, and it has taken years for government officials to reunite relatives and their children.
“We recognize that our critical work is far from over,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “We remain firm in our commitment to fulfill President Biden’s promise to reunite all children separated from their families under a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy to the maximum extent possible, and we continue to work hard to incorporate the basic principles of family unity in our policies and operations.”
The agency added that the number of new families in need of support continues to increase as they move forward and identify themselves as separate.
President Joe Biden launched a task force shortly after taking office in 2021 to reunite families, but the effort has been difficult. Officials said the Trump administration’s information about the separated families was “at best” and “cobbled together from shared documentation.”
About 4,000 children were identified as separated from their families, and just under 3,000 have been reunited (many of whom were reunited before Biden took office). Currently, 148 children are still in the reunification process and 183 families have been contacted to reunite with their children.
“We have made significant progress in reuniting families and providing the services and supports they need,” DHS said Thursday. “This critical work will continue until all separated families that can be found have been given the opportunity to be reunited.”