No Clear Plan Yet On How To Reunite Families Separated At Border
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MCALLEN, Texas (AP) - Trump administration officials say they haven't yet figured out how to reunite the thousands of children separated from their families at the border.
The separations are a result of a zero-tolerance policy adopted in May by the Department of Justice in which anyone caught entering the U.S. illegally is criminally prosecuted.
Homeland Security officials say there are some methods parents can use to try to find their children: hotlines to call and an email address for those seeking information. But advocates say the system is filled with obstacles.
An attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project says some of the adults detained are illiterate and federal representatives won't give any information if a child has been transferred out of a government shelter - including if the child has been deported.
Protesters Interrupt Homeland Secretary's Dinner
Meanwhile, about a dozen protesters heckled Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about the Trump administration's immigration policy as she ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington.
The protesters entered MXDC Cocina Mexicana Tuesday and chanted "Shame!" and "End family separation!"
In a video posted on Facebook by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, the protesters yelled, "if kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace."
Nielsen paid her bill and left after about 10 or 15 minutes.
A department spokesman tweeted that during a work dinner, the secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who "share her concern with our current immigration laws."
House GOP Gets Little Direction From Trump On Immigration
House Republican leaders searching for a way to tamp down the controversy over family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border are getting little clear direction from President Donald Trump.
Trump visited the Capitol on Tuesday to discuss immigration, and told House Republicans he is behind their rival immigration bills "1,000 percent." Whether Trump's support can push any immigration measure through the divided GOP majority remains a question.
Republican lawmakers are increasingly fearful of a voter backlash in November. They met with Trump with hopes of finding a solution that holds to his hard-line immigration policy and ends the practice of taking migrant children from parents charged with entering the country illegally.
As Trump left the session, a half-dozen House Democrats confronted him and yelled, "Stop separating our families!"
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