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Immigration divided Trump and Biden in latest presidential debate

2020-10-23T05:51:52.371Z


The presidential candidates got into a strong exchange about the family separation that occurred on the southern border of the United States and the harsh immigration policies of the current government.


WASHINGTON.- The US government has not been able to locate the parents of more than 500 immigrant children who were separated from their families on the southern border, but President Donald Trump said in the last presidential debate that he is developing a plan for their reunification. 

We are trying very hard (to reunify them), but many of these children come without their parents

.

They come with (help) from cartels, coyotes, and gangs, ”Trump said.

He also defended the treatment of migrant children in federal custody and cited press reports that minors "are well cared for, and are in very clean facilities."

However, during the spike in illegal border crossings in 2018, reports from civic groups

denounced the overcrowding and lack of sanitation

at border detention centers.

[Trump administration demanded that children be separated from their parents, regardless of their age or objection by prosecutors, according to report]

The president assured that the Obama Administration had eight years to solve illegal immigration but his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, did "nothing more than build cages", he also defended the practices of his government to

stop the passage of "rapists and murderers" .

Biden, however, claimed that the children in question came with their parents, not coyotes, and that the current administration

"separated them at the border to deter" illegal emigration.

That practice "makes us a laughingstock and violates every notion of who we are as a nation," he added.

Activists fear they won't be able to reunite families separated at the border

Oct. 21, 202002: 08

Trump and Biden became involved in a strong exchange about which of the two governments built the cages, whose images went around the world and generated criticism from human rights groups and the international community.

They took the children from their arms and separated them, and now they cannot find the parents of more than 500 children

, who are now alone and with nowhere to go.

It's criminal, ”emphasized Biden.

The US Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is leading a lawsuit against the Trump Administration to achieve the reunification of 545 children with their parents, two-thirds of whom were deported to Central America.

[Judge orders the Trump Administration to stop detaining immigrant children in hotels]

Speaking to Noticias Telemundo, Lee Gelernt, senior attorney for the ACLU, said this week that "it

has been extraordinarily difficult to locate all the separated families,

especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we will not stop until we find them all."

The "zero tolerance" policy

The Obama Administration (2009-2017) ordered the construction of metal structures to house children

who entered illegally and without their parents

during the great migration crisis of 2014, and if children were separated from their parents, it occurred in isolated cases. 

In other words, Obama did not have a formal family separation policy to deter illegal emigration from Central America.

Instead, then-US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in April 2018 a

“zero tolerance” policy on the southern border,

whereby the government would prosecute all undocumented immigrants in court.

Within the framework of that policy, the Trump Administration separated children who came with their parents, to send the message that migrants should not attempt the illegal crossing.

A federal judge ruled against that policy, and

Trump formally eliminated it two months later by executive order.

[A respite, but temporary: undocumented immigrants are skeptical of Biden's promise to freeze deportations in his first 100 days]

It is estimated that around 2,800 families were separated under the

2018

"zero tolerance" policy

. The children in question were separated from their families as part of a pilot program the previous year, but many of their parents had already been deported when a Federal judge in California ordered their reunification.

Currently, unaccompanied children are sent to shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Resources, while their asylum cases are heard in court.

The Trump Administration assures that it

tries to reunify them with their parents, close relatives, or other "sponsors"

who meet a series of requirements.

Stunning images of migrant overcrowding in Texas

May 15, 201902: 12

During the debate, Biden also condemned the 'Stay in Mexico' program, which the Trump Administration agreed with Mexico to force asylum seekers to wait there for the resolution of their cases.

Groups in favor of immigrant rights such as Community Change Action, made clear tonight their rejection of Trump's immigration policies.

The Trump Administration and the Republican Party have attacked and abandoned immigrant families

, and inequalities have only worsened during the pandemic.

We need an administration that supports immigrants by focusing on what their communities need, ”said Community Change Action.

As part of his efforts to recruit supporters,

Biden has promised immigration reform that legalizes the undocumented population

, while Trump will seek to continue the fight against undocumented immigrants, and reduce legal immigration in such a way that priority is given to the entry of immigrants with high job skills.

[ICE begins to implement a new policy of rapid deportations of migrants with less than two years in the US]

During the debate, it was recalled that President Barack Obama

registered the highest record of deportations and did not achieve immigration reform,

when Biden was asked about this situation, he recognized that "it was a mistake" but repeated his promise that, if he wins the presidency, He will send an immigration reform bill to Congress in the first 100 days of his administration.

This is what an immigration detention center in Texas looks like

June 18, 201801: 34

That initiative, he explained, will legalize and offer a path to citizenship for more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers, whom Biden praised for their work as essential workers during the pandemic.

The debate was the last face-to-face between the two candidates with 12 days remaining until the elections on November 3 and included numerous questions about the COVID-19 pandemic;

national security and protection of the electoral process;

aid for the middle and working classes, and the fight against racism.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-10-23

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