Priorities in 2021: Ending Family Separation

Photo Credit: ACLU

As the year is drawing to a close and many people are considering the changes they want to see in 2021, we fully support placing the ending of family separation at the top of our nation’s list of priorities.

The time has come for the parents and children separated at the U.S. border as part of the Trump administration’s cruel deterrence tactics to finally be reunited. No child deserves to be taken away from their parent as part of their immigration process, and separating a child from their family should never be done for strategic or political reasons.

What is Family Separation?

Back in 2017, the Trump administration began separating parents and children who arrived at the U.S. border under a pilot program designed to deter immigration through harsher policies. Over 1,000 parents were separated from their children when they were processed by U.S. immigration officials.

In 2018, the Trump administration made the practice of family separation official, announcing a “zero tolerance” policy under which hundreds more parents were separated from their children after arriving in the United States. A U.S. District Judge later ordered that the children be reunited with their families, but by that time many of the parents separated under the pilot program had already been sent back to their country of origin, while their children remained in the United States.

Today, several hundred parents still have not been reunited with their children. Despite the official ending of the family separation policy, the consequences of these harmful actions remain. Many children have not been reunited with their parents and desperately wish to be with their mothers and fathers once again.

What Can I Do to Help?

Several legal advocacy groups and non-profit organizations have been working to help locate and reunite families affected by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” pilot program. For more information about the reunification efforts and to take action to help the parents and children who were separated by U.S. immigration officials, follow these key organizations working on this issue:

The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project:

https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights

Families Belong Together:

https://www.familiesbelongtogether.org/

Justice in Motion:

https://www.justiceinmotion.org/

If you have a family member who is a citizen of another country and would like to immigrate to the United States, or if you are an immigrant in need of legal advice or representation regarding your own case, please call our office at (425) 374-1681 to schedule a consultation.

Attorneys Brittan and Mary Beth are available via telephone or video conference and are ready to answer your questions about a wide variety of immigration applications and issues.