Executive Order to Reunite Families Separated at the United States-Mexico Border
On February 2nd 2021, President Biden passed an executive order looking to reunite children who may have been separated at the United States-Mexico border. The order states the Biden Administration, “…will protect family unity and ensure that children entering the United States are not separated from their families, except in the most extreme circumstances where a separation is clearly necessary for the safety and well-being of the child or is required by law.” (1). What’s inside the order, and what’s being looked at to prevent this?
The executive order itself looks at creating an inter-agency Task Force dedicated to getting the job of family reunification done. The Task Force will be set up as followed in the image below directly from www.whitehouse.gov.
The Task Force will look to identify, “all children who were separated from their families at the United States-Mexico border between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021” (2) then begin facilitating the reunification between children and their families. The Task Force will also be required to give recommendations to heads of agencies, these recommendations include; the possibility of parole or the issuing of Visas where possible and lawfully right to do so, recommendations on mental health services for the children and their families, and recommendations regarding reunification of any additional family members who may also have been separated. (3). All reports will be sent to the President.
Finally, it revokes executive order 13841 titled, “Affording Congress an Opportunity To Address Family Separation” which was signed in by President Trump in 2018. This executive order looked to enforce immigration laws for those who cross the United States border from Mexico not using the designated points of entry. It also looked to keep families together, “where appropriate and consistent with the law and available resources.” (4)
Will the current administrations order be more effective in keeping families together? Only time will tell.
-Trent Naz
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Sources -
(1) Biden, J., 2021. Executive Order on the Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families. [online] The White House. Available at: <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-the-establishment-of-interagency-task-force-on-the-reunification-of-families/> [Accessed 5 February 2021].
(2) Biden, J., 2021. Executive Order on the Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families. [online] The White House. Available at: <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-the-establishment-of-interagency-task-force-on-the-reunification-of-families/> [Accessed 5 February 2021].
(3) Biden, J., 2021. Executive Order on the Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families. [online] The White House. Available at: <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-the-establishment-of-interagency-task-force-on-the-reunification-of-families/> [Accessed 5 February 2021].
(4) Trump, D., 2021. Affording Congress an Opportunity To Address Family Separation. [online] Federal Register. Available at: <https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/06/25/2018-13696/affording-congress-an-opportunity-to-address-family-separation> [Accessed 5 February 2021].
