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Unaccompanied child near the US border in Mexico (archive image)
Photo: Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ex-US President Donald Trump was notorious for his strict immigration policy.
The "zero tolerance policy" of his government caused dramatic scenes on the southern border with Mexico.
In 2018 alone, when the tightened border policy came into force, armed border police separated hundreds of parents from their children because the families tried to enter illegally.
The government of US President Joe Biden wants to reunite separated migrant families for the first time.
“Today is just the beginning.
We are bringing the first group of families back together, many more will follow, and we know how important it is to give these families the stability and resources they need to heal, ”said Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas.
The minister first wrote on Twitter of "four mothers who will hug their children again after so many years."
"They are mothers who fled extremely dangerous situations in their home countries and who stayed in a dangerous environment in Mexico," Mayorkas continues.
The minister did not explain how these families were selected.
The head of the Biden working group to reunite families, Michelle Brané, said more than 1,000 families are still separated.
The incomplete record by the Trump administration makes it difficult to give an exact number.
Trump administration imprisoned children with parents after a court ruling
As part of Trump's “zero tolerance policy”, with which the US authorities wanted to hold back illegal immigrants on the southern border with Mexico, thousands of families were torn apart as they crossed the border from Mexico to the United States.
The practice of separating parents and children had sparked international outrage.
In 2018, a court found the proceedings to be inhuman and unconstitutional and ordered mergers.
Trump eventually ended the practice, but children were subsequently imprisoned with their parents.
For reunited families, the Ministry of Homeland Security now wants to examine options for "long-term legal stability".
The "unnecessary and cruel separations" should therefore be prevented in the future.
The Biden government promises to make US migration policy more humane.
Because of the large number of refugees arriving on the US southern border, however, it is under considerable pressure.
The Republicans accuse Biden of having exacerbated the crisis on the border with his more liberal course.
A poll in the US in April showed that only 37 percent of respondents support Biden's previous handling of migration on the southern border with Mexico.
fek / AFP / dpa