Trump Signs Executive Order Ending Immigrant Child Separation
Legislative ineptitude has once again led to Executive Action
Let’s hope the end of the child immigration separation fiasco is nigh.
The Associated Press is reporting Trump will sign an Executive Order “shortly” requiring families detained at the border to remain intact.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen drafted the order for Trump’s approval.
From the AP:
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has drafted an executive action for President Donald Trump that would direct her department to keep families together after they are detained crossing the border illegally. She was at the White House where Trump told reporters he would be “signing something” shortly.
The effort to end what has become a major crisis for the Trump administration was outlined by two people familiar with Nielsen’s thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the effort before its official announcement.
It’s unclear exactly what the president might be supporting, but he said he would be signing something “in a little while.”
“We want to keep families together,” he said.
The effort would mark a dramatic departure for an administration that has been insisting, wrongly, that it has no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of the law and a court decision.
Nielsen, the president and other officials have repeatedly said the only way to end the practice is for Congress to pass new legislation, though both Democrats and some Republicans have said the president could reverse it with a simple phone call.
The news in recent days has been dominated by searing images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents.
One of the people familiar with Nielsen’s thinking said she believes there is no certainty that Congress will act to fix the separation issue.
Asked about the possibility of an executive order on immigration, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters: “We’ll keep you posted. When we have an announcement to make, we’ll make it.”
There’s no reason a Republican-controlled Congress should have this much difficulty passing legislation for a Republican president, and yet…
The administration repeatedly kicked the issue to Congress, imploring them to pass legislation to tighten up the loophole that created the child separation mess.
Legislative ineptitude (on both sides of the aisle) has once again led to Executive Action (or expected action).
Wednesday morning, Trump blamed Democrats for refusing to work with Republicans:
The Fake News is not mentioning the safety and security of our Country when talking about illegal immigration. Our immigration laws are the weakest and worst anywhere in the world, and the Dems will do anything not to change them & to obstruct-want open borders which means crime!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018
It’s the Democrats fault, they won’t give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something – it never ends!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018
Meanwhile:
But how can this be? How can this NYT story be accurate? I was told that Trump and Nielson were dangerous liars — worse than Hitler, I believe the claim went — for saying there was a law that required family separation after 20 days. pic.twitter.com/lCMAoLdKHw
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 20, 2018
Update: Trump signs EO
Trump signed the Executive Order Wednesday afternoon. And because Trump is Trump, he displeasure with Congress’s inaction was plainly noted:
It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law.
"You're going to have a lot of happy people," Pres. Trump says while signing an executive order that he says will end family separation at the border. https://t.co/n43d8BLNUI pic.twitter.com/SmpMBIlHAB
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 20, 2018
Text of the order here:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of this Administration to rigorously enforce our immigration laws. Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time. When an alien enters or attempts to enter the country anywhere else, that alien has committed at least the crime of improper entry and is subject to a fine or imprisonment under section 1325(a) of title 8, United States Code. This Administration will initiate proceedings to enforce this and other criminal provisions of the INA until and unless Congress directs otherwise. It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources. It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law.
Sec. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this order, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Alien family” means
(i) any person not a citizen or national of the United States who has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States, who entered this country with an alien child or alien children at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained; and
(ii) that person’s alien child or alien children.
(b) “Alien child” means any person not a citizen or national of the United States who
(i) has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States;
(ii) is under the age of 18; and
(iii) has a legal parent-child relationship to an alien who entered the United States with the alien child at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained.
Sec. 3. Temporary Detention Policy for Families Entering this Country Illegally. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members.
(b) The Secretary shall not, however, detain an alien family together when there is a concern that detention of an alien child with the child’s alien parent would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.
(c) The Secretary of Defense shall take all legally available measures to provide to the Secretary, upon request, any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families, and shall construct such facilities if necessary and consistent with law. The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.
(d) Heads of executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent consistent with law, make available to the Secretary, for the housing and care of alien families pending court proceedings for improper entry, any facilities that are appropriate for such purposes. The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.
(e) The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.
Sec. 4. Prioritization of Immigration Proceedings Involving Alien Families. The Attorney General shall, to the extent practicable, prioritize the adjudication of cases involving detained families.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
June 20, 2018.
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Comments
I’m old enough to remember when the Left was furious at Trump for using his plenary power over immigration to write EOs in order to manage and regulate immigration from select countries. They took him to court numerous times.
Now, they demand he do it, and the Left even refuses to participate in a legislative fix (the reason why is obvious).
If the Left didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any, at all.
That is true of course, but this is not a war about standards. The left is not interested in standards, they attack at all times because they only care about winning at any price.
Breitbart has put up the text of the E.O.:
http://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2018/06/20/trump-migration-eo-prosecute-challenge-flores-loophole/
The left has no standards. The only standards are power – at any cost or corruption. Just ask klinton, feinstein, pelosi, and the rest of the gang.
(Would have included obama, but he’s merely on their b-team.)
Regarding the NYT, they’re dancing around the difference between a statute, i.e. “a” law, and a consent decree, i.e. “the” law.
I’m still very curious how anyone proposes to get around Flores v. Sessions extending that 1997 decision to accompanied children.
They don’t want Trump to “get around” Flores, they want him to do what Obama did: automatically release both the adults and the kids from custody after 20 days.
This is what caused illegal alien adults to start bringing kids (their own, or others they had purchased or borrowed or kidnapped) across the border in the first place. Word got around south of the border that the best way to ensure you’d be able to remain in the U.S., even if you were caught by Border Patrol, was to go over with a kid you claimed was yours.
Trump was doing the right thing. Now we’ll be back where we were, where we’re creating incentives for unscrupulous people to use and exploit these kids.
Not if the EO is to allow detaining children over 20 days while parents are “processed” rather than let loose as obozo did.
The only way to get around Flores, or the only one I can think of, is to make sure that all cases are processed within 20 days.
The most immediate course of action would be to take the option to request asylum off the table for anyone caught entering the country illegally.
There just aren’t enough judges to go around. Most people don’t realize how much a real Camp of the Saints situation it is on the Southern Border: thousands every day.
As you are replying to a suggestion that we eliminate asylum (at least for anyone not known for fearing for life because of government political action), I have to point out that there would be no need for Administrative Law Judges to determine asylum claims for large numbers of people. Politicians from opposition parties in Venezuela might have a good claim, not much of anyone else from either North, Central or South America. Certainly nobody from Mexico, Honduras or Guatemala would qualify. Nobody “fleeing” poverty or criminal violence would have a case needing to be heard. Anyone with a good case would already be known to the CIA and other intelligence agencies keeping track of the political situation in Latin America.
We would have more judges if we didn’t have so much Prohibition to enforce.
Not only that – Prohibition funds the cartels.
Actually, Flores only addresses detention of minor children whose parents [mothers, actually] are detained for illegally entering the US. And, these children can be released to close family members already residing in the US or to licensed programs. Flores does require minors to be housed with adult family members who are under arrest for a criminal violation or detained for any other immigration violation.
Also, there has been no evidence presented that the current administration is violating the Flores Agreement in any way.
This whole kerfuffle is a scam. It is designed to not draw attention away from the DOJ IG’s report which was damning of the former administration. And, it is being used to attack Trump. But, it is all about as accurate as the Russian Collusion charges. It is total BS.
The Left has won this one if Trump buckles. No matter if the policy was used by Bush and Obama, it will be billed as Trump’s policy. Orwell’s point about controlling the historical narrative holds up so well.
Just how many immigrants can this country support? Eventually, the number will be so great even the rich Left will be brought down. It’s more than the road to serfdom, it is a superhighway to ruin.
“Eventually, the number will be so great even the rich Left will be brought down. It’s more than the road to serfdom, it is a superhighway to ruin.”
Yes, but they’ll at last achieve total domination and control over the smoking, stinking ruins of our nation.
He did and they did.
Nope, the Left did not win this. Read that EO carefully and pay close attention.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members.”
Until Flores is overturned there is no extent permitted by law and until Congress ponies up some $ there is no availability of appropriations.
I could go on . . . .
“The effort would mark a dramatic departure for an administration that has been insisting, wrongly, that it has no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of the law and a court decision.”
Actually, that’s a correct statement, AP. Based on the law, that was what the executive branch enforcing the law was required to do. I know the concept of a POTUS that enforces the laws of the land is a novel concept to the press, though. It takes time to craft legislative and even executive corrections if you don’t have a free pass from the media to choose at a whim which laws you want to enforce.
That said, this is all bullsh** propaganda. Minority enthusiasm for the Dems is waning. Most that do vote will still vote that way but many won’t turn out at all.
Keep them together. Deport them together. Make it clear to Latin America that there is no use sending more. Build the wall.
This issue can be solved through Mexico confronting immigration reform at its southern border, a wall that prevents asylum seekers from avoiding accountability, emigration reform that mitigates child trafficking and endangerment, emigres’ nation that provided birth certificates and criminal records to mitigate integration of children and adult predators (identifying as “parents”), an end to social justice adventures that are first order forcings of CAIR (e.g. anti-native policies, trail of tears), an end to liberal spending sprees and single-monopoly practices that cause decadal resets here and globally, tariffs to compensate for explicit and implicit tariffs including labor and environmental arbitrage, lifting the veil of privacy from gas chambers… I mean, abortion clinics, where millions of lives deemed unworthy are summarily aborted and related progressive dysfunction.
NYT reports in collusion with Mexican interests to cover-up that Mexico does not offer safe harbor to child migrants, or address immigration reform at its southern border.
RE: n. n.
Considering that one of the richest Mexicans in the world owns a hunk of the NYT, this is what you’d expect. Slim Carlos surely wanted something for his money….
Excuse me! **Carlos Slim.
Slim has no control over the NYT. His investment is in non-voting stock.
When you are a major (not majority) stakeholder. You have sway. No, you can’t vote, but you know that your statement is extremely and purposefully obtuse.
They do have a point, but it’s not like the NYT needed persuasion to betray American interests anyway.
Really? What sway do you have, no matter how many non-voting shares you hold? Do as I say, or what? I’ll sell my shares?
Yes, really. 15% of a stock that hasn’t peaked in over a decade and is in a vulnerable sector.
It wouldn’t be worded as a threat like that, but his voice counts even if it isn’t at the table.
Chicken/egg would also say that they invested in NYT because of the BS progressivism that was already apparent, so as I said before, the NYT doesn’t need motivation to write in this manner anyways.
No, Slim, and his family, currently hold almost 15.5% of the common stock in the NYTimes. Down from the 17% investment that he held in 2017. This is all votable class A shares, and makes Slim a significant investor in the Times. This makes Slim a stockholder whose voice carries some weight.
Class A shares are the restricted ones, the ones that wouldn’t give you significant influence, let alone control, even if you were to own 100% of them.
Class A shares are VOTING SHARES. The holders of these stocks vote in company elections. Class B or Preferred stocks carry more voting weight per share, true. But Class A stock is voting shares. And, holding 15-17% of the class A stock in a company such as the NYTimes gives the holder quite a bit of influence.
I am so disappointed. Big win for the Left. HUGE
Not yet.
We still don’t know what the EO will say.
think harder
“The effort to end what has become a major crisis for the Trump administration was outlined…”
‘Major Crisis’ in your dreams, AP. This is why we call these people Fake News.
In some sense it is a major crisis, manufactured by the media and the left (but I repeat myself), to create pressure for amnesty, while the leftist in Congress oppose any proposed bill that is not their own making. It is designed to make President Trump side with the Anti-Trump by backing something that is against his promises. It is about separating Trump from his base which has remained strong despite all their efforts.
If Trump compromises too far with the left and that includes a decent number of those in the republican party, it will hurt in the mid-term election. Much as I don’t want to see it happen, the wrong decisions in this phony outrage can kill enthusiasm for voting, which is what the real purpose of this is. Voter suppression on the right and keeping the anger and hate fueled on the left. If the Dems win a majority in the House Trump will be impeached, they will manufacture something, just like they did with this issue.
So in that regard, it is a crisis, just not quite the BS they are hiding behind.
Let’s hope the end of the child immigration separation fiasco is nigh
***********************************************************
why?
we are repeatedly told illegal aliens only do this to give kids better life. as such should we not advocate for MORE?
honestly I don’t give a damn. if they were citizens I would care. if not I don’t.
The left doesn’t win if the EO is to allow children to be detained indefinitely with their parents, they win if they are allowed to enter the US with their parents without due process of law. Expect the left to sue the president on the EO.
I could not care less about separating the children from their “parents.”
I’m in favor of a wall WITH turrets, so we can place machine guns at the top and shoot those trying to enter illegally. All this molly coddling for people who want to enter the country to, at the least, steal from American citizens, infuriates me. Let’s not forget the ones that come because they want to rape, kill, control, e.g. MS13.
If someone broke in my house to steal while I was there, I’d pull out the 9mm and use it. And I’d proudly tell the police what I did!
If the left didn’t have double standards, they’d have none. We all know this was an act. It’s not personal against Trump; he’s just in the way of them getting what they want.
Also, I’m actually in favor of going to war with Mexico, conquering it and making it some kind of “territory.” Unsure of the correct status I’m thinking of. Don’t want them voting in our elections for sure!
However, they want our way of life so bad, I’d rather give it to them in their home turf, than have them continuing to invade here and changing my country to the same s***hole they left.
Colonialism evidently was a great thing, they just don’t want to admit they miss it. Too bad. I’m there.
Actually, this EO doesn’t really change the situation much at all. The problem is the lack of facilities for the detention of families, during processing. There is also a lack of facilities for housing detained families awaiting proceedings. And, the EO says specifically “to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members”. So, nothing is going to change for several months, at least. And, possibly never; unless Congress acts. This is only a means to defuse the uproar, as nothing can really be done, if the administration follows the law.
This EO doesn’t change anything. Activist liberals want unlimited immigration and catch and release. Trump’s EO asking activist liberal judges to overturn the consent decree mandating catch and release will go nowhere.
This kind of pushes Cruz’s proposal, doesn’t it? His bill is to increase judges (which would be appointed by Trump), and increase a means to house, while expediting the time it takes to get a judgement on such cases.
With that, I see the invaders then increasing in numbers to still overwhelm the system.
Clearly we need to put them up in the Holiday Inn in Chula Vista.
San Ysidro.
When you argue with an idiot, you then have two idiots arguing.
Don’t argue with the left. Just keep moving forward without them.
This is a brilliant stroke of the pen. What it is doing is forcing the discussion about what the human trafficking is really all about. It’s the Streisand Effect on steroids.
Most people have learned more about the horrors of child trafficking across our southern border in the last 4 days than they have ever known before.
The systemic abuse of these children is completely indefensible.
Well, I asked how they were going to get around Flores. Short answer: Trump immediately addresses the problem that anyone arrested for illegal immigration becomes a Justice Dept. problem, and the Justice Dept. doesn’t house juveniles with adults for safety reasons; and, he orders Sessions to plead and beg the judicial branch for mercy for the children while the executive branch follows the other parts of the law.
In both cases, the judicial branch can easily wreck the effort and bring us back to square one.
In both cases, the judicial branch can easily wreck the effort and bring us back to square one.
Wake up people. That’s the point.
Some lefty idiot won’t resist going to court. Then the courts will throw out the order. Then Trump will say “See I told you so. Now Congress has to fix this.” Of course the nutso left will demand instant amnesty.
Some say that Trump plays 3D chess. I say this is not 3D chess. Trump knows what his opponents weakness are, he knows how to exploit them to get them to get them to over commit.
We tell everyone that these people don’t want to treat the children fairly, they want a political issue. Trump doesn’t tell everyone, he shows them.
Actually, I have something more immediate to to mention.
Marco Rubio ✔@marcorubio
The ink isn’t even dry on the new executive order ending separation policy & some Democrats already arguing that keeping families together isn’t enough. Now they want them & their parents released after unlawful entry knowing full well that high % will never appear for hearing
5:06 PM – Jun 20, 2018
…And thus, the trap snaps shut.
I saw that in a discussion about Kamala Harris pushing exactly that position, but the point is that they have been flushed out and have to make that argument in public. They spent most of the last few weeks hiding that argument while “keeping the pressure” on Trump, the same justification as Schumer gave while telling Trump to pound sand. Now the argument is public in all its glory… just as it should be, for good or ill.
There is no such thing as “enough” for the left. They are like children who throw tantrums any time the parental figure establishes a boundary, they have to cross that line. It doesn’t matter if it is good for the Country, it only matters that it keeps a continual narrative to enrage the enraged.
If they let up at all, it gives time to think, and they can’t have that.
Deport the family (and children if any) until the case can be heard at a later date. That honors the court’s order.
A Womans’ Right To Choose. Millions of defenseless babies have been “ripped” from their mothers wombs in our country, never to enjoy life. Where is heart felt compassion for them?
Geraldo R.. deserves an Oscar for his acting on Fox the other night.
The key clause on which the whole thing rests seems to be
In other words, ask the court to pretty please let us off the hook. Would anyone care to make a small wager on the outcome?
I’ve already made mine. They’ll tell Trump to go to hell, if not actively order the release of the parents too. But, the alternative is to turn Trump into a king. For a few short days, at least, the worst outcome has been avoided. I don’t know what comes after.
What I think comes after is Trump saying “Hey, the court just ordered us to start separating families again. Go blame the judge.”