One of President Trump's most significant acts as the leader of the United States occurred this past Wednesday, as the President signed an executive order promising to "keep families together" in migrant detentions across America's Southern border.
The move comes after weeks of fire and fury from various media outlets, entertainers, politicians, and foreign leaders condemning the policy which called for the forced separation of families attempting to immigrate to the United States illegally during detainment.
The zero-tolerance policy regarding the prosecution and separation of these families was implemented last April, and since then roughly 2,000 children were taken into custody.
A young girl cries during detainment. It was later revealed that this child in particular was not separated from her parents.John Moore, Getty Images
"We as a nation are ripping children away [from their families], which we know is traumatic, and it is damaging the humanity of not only the children and the families, it is damaging our humanity. It is morally scarring this country," said New Jersey Senator Cory Booker (D) just two days before President Trump signed the executive order.
These children are now currently in detention centers following the adherence to this protocol. It is unclear as to when these children will be reunited with their families. It was also not made immediately clear when Trump's executive order written to stop this process will be implemented.
Vice President Mike Pence was in attendance for the signing, as well as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen, who emerged as the main White House spokesperson following the flurry of criticism the separation policy generated with the public.
Secretary Nielsen initially defended the policy of separating the children from their families, saying that it was in the best interest of the United States, while also suggesting that the policies being enforced were not much different than that of the Obama administration.
"The Obama administration, the Bush administration, [they] all separated families. They absolutely did. Their rate was less than ours, but they absolutely did do this. This is not new," said Nielsen during a press conference at White House on Monday. Nielsen went on to suggest that the policy was also in the best interest of the children, and that it was regularly difficult to determine if the families were actually related as they say.
Political analysts and former members of the Obama administration would later refute this claim, saying that the administration generally avoided the prosecution or separation of adults and children illegally crossing the border together.
"I can't say that it never happened. There may have been some exigent situation, some emergency," said Jeh Johnson, Obama's Homeland Security secretary from 2013 until the inauguration of President Trump. "There may have been some doubt about whether the adult accompanying the child was in fact the parent of the child. I can't say it never happened — but not as a matter of policy or practice."
Johnson went on to say that regardless of whether children were separated from their families, they were immediately returned to their parents once the situation was deemed safe, and that these incidents occurred far less frequently than what occurred during the two month period from April until June.
President Obama's handling of the issue of immigration is not without criticism, however. Many Democrats, in an attempt to publicly pressure the President, were caught tweeting a photograph. The photo in question was actually taken in an Obama-era facility in 2014 by Ross D. Franklin, a fact President Trump correctly pointed out via Twitter.
This photo and others like it were tweeted by Democrats in which they falsely claimed they were of the current detainment facility.Ross D. Franklin
"Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obama's term showing children from the Border in steel cages," Trump tweeted on May 29. "They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires. Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country...Bipartisan Bill!"
Whether or not Republicans and Democrats can agree on such a bill remains to be seen, but House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that the house will aim to pass immigration legislation this Thursday.
While Ryan promised that the bill would act as a solution to various immigration issues, including DACA, only time will tell if such legislation will actually be passed. Until then, all eyes will be on how the administration handles the children already in custody and future instances of illegal immigration across America's southern border.
