President Trump signs Executive Order, giving Congress a chance to address alien family separation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump responded to the growing public scrutiny of a policy of separating adult aliens and their children after they are captured trying to illegally cross into the United States, by signing an Executive Order with an apparent aim of holding families together.

Once captured, illegal aliens with children will still be prosecuted, the President Trump’s Executive Order says, but Homeland Security will allow them to remain with any children they brought with them.

According to the order from the President:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Policy.  It is the policy of this Administration to rigorously enforce our immigration laws.  Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time.  When an alien enters or attempts to enter the country anywhere else, that alien has committed at least the crime of improper entry and is subject to a fine or imprisonment under section 1325(a) of title 8, United States Code.  This Administration will initiate proceedings to enforce this and other criminal provisions of the INA until and unless Congress directs otherwise.  It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.  It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law.

Sec. 2.  Definitions.  For purposes of this order, the following definitions apply:

(a)  “Alien family” means

(i)  any person not a citizen or national of the United States who has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States, who entered this country with an alien child or alien children at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained; and

(ii)  that person’s alien child or alien children.

(b)  “Alien child” means any person not a citizen or national of the United States who

(i)    has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States;

(ii)   is under the age of 18; and

(iii)  has a legal parent-child relationship to an alien who entered the United States with the alien child at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained.

Sec. 3.  Temporary Detention Policy for Families Entering this Country Illegally.  (a)  The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members.

(b)  The Secretary shall not, however, detain an alien family together when there is a concern that detention of an alien child with the child’s alien parent would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.

(c)  The Secretary of Defense shall take all legally available measures to provide to the Secretary, upon request, any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families, and shall construct such facilities if necessary and consistent with law.  The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.

(d)  Heads of executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent consistent with law, make available to the Secretary, for the housing and care of alien families pending court proceedings for improper entry, any facilities that are appropriate for such purposes.  The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.

(e)  The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.

Sec. 4.  Prioritization of Immigration Proceedings Involving Alien Families.  The Attorney General shall, to the extent practicable, prioritize the adjudication of cases involving detained families.

Sec. 5.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 20, 2018.

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In response to the Executive Order, ACLU Director of Immigration Policy and Campaigns Lorella Praeli sent an email to supporters which read:

Yesterday Donald Trump signed an executive order that he claims will end family separation at the border. The reality is that it may not stop separating families, will not reunite the thousands of families already torn apart, and aims to lock up even more children and families. Our movement is so powerful that we’ve managed to shame Trump into action, but this crisis is far from over.

Now Trump is calling on Congress to help him put children and their parents into mass prison camps – indefinitely. This is his unspeakably cruel “solution” to family separation.

In the House, Speaker Paul Ryan is working to pass a bill today that would sanction mass immigrant family detention and give Trump a Congressional greenlight on his brutal anti-immigrant agenda.

You play a crucial role in our fight, ACLU Supporter. And our jobs aren’t done – make a call today to stop Congress from passing a law that puts families in prison camps.

Ryan’s bill is designed to imprison families. It uses the end of family separation as a way to justify dismantling protections against the jailing of children and families in mass prison camps. It will turbocharge immigration enforcement and it contains Donald Trump’s personal anti-immigrant wish list, border wall and all.

Here’s what you can do right now: Today, the House is voting on Speaker Ryan’s immigration bill. Just like Trump’s executive order, this bill is holding immigrant children hostage to push forward intolerable family detention – and a slew of other anti-immigrant policies that undermine the Constitution and due process.

Ryan’s bill is NOT a solution, but it could still get the votes it needs to pass. Call your representative right now and demand that they vote against Ryan’s bill.

ACLU Supporter, we’re in this fight for the long-haul – and we’re fighting on all fronts: We’re suing the Trump administration to bring a permanent end to family separation. We’re giving Congress no choice but to block the Ryan bill and refuse to give one cent to immigrant-abusing agencies like ICE. We will bear witness to the horrors of family separation and detention. We will raise our voices so loud that this issue is kept front and center until every single family is reunited.