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The Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas , said Monday that the Biden Administration will allow the families that the government of former President Donald Trump separated at the southern border can reunite and stay in the United States .
“We hope to reunite families, either here or in your home country. We hope to be able to give you the choice . And if, in fact, they seek to meet here in the United States, we will explore legal avenues for them to remain in the United States and to address family needs, ”Mayorkas said in a briefing prior to Biden’s telematic meeting with the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador , in which he was also present.
The policy of separation of families of the Trump Administration affected some 2, 800 families in 2018 . Some have already been gathered but the organizations in charge of this have not been able to find the parents of some 550 children.
Mayorkas, leader of the reunification task force established by President Biden, said his Administration has managed to gather up to now to 105 families .
Organizations and activists defending immigrants allege that the Biden Administration not only has to reunite families but also compensate to those who suffered the consequences of the policies of the previous government.
“We applaud Secretary Mayorkas’s commitment to remedy torture and abuse of families that were separated from their children in immigration processes. Of course, the devil is in the details and Secretary Mayorkas has to get rid of all the warnings and qualifications surrounding his ad and go ahead with whatever it takes to correct the mistake. , “said the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony Romero, in a statement.
Mayorkas did not specify which legal route would be offered to families who choose to remain in the United States, nor, therefore, what type of work authorizations could be granted.