Trump official: Most deported parents did NOT consent to leaving their children behind

[pnwmom]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/25/deported-migrants-leaving-children-behind-712088

Homeland Security officials may have neglected to give a choice to as many as three-quarters of all migrant parents removed from the United States about leaving their children behind, contradicting repeated public assurances from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

The Trump administration failed to document consent in most such cases, an administration official told POLITICO. That lapse increased the number of departed parents whom officials must now find and contact about whether they wish to be reunited with their children, and, if so, figure out the logistics of how to bring them together. The revelation threatens to delay reunifications and renews questions about the administration’s original intent one day ahead of a court-ordered deadline to return most migrant children to their parents.

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"If any parent has been deported ... without their child," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said July 5, "that likely would be a scenario where the parent had actually asked that the child remain."


But “we don’t see it in the documentation,” the administration official said. As many as 350 parents may have departed the U.S. without being given the option to take their children with them, the official said Wednesday. That represents three-quarters of the 463 parents who are no longer in the U.S., according to a related court filing, although that number is “under review,” according to the DOJ.

A DHS spokeswoman did not address the documentation question directly, but said that an “election form” indicating whether a parent consents to removal without a child must be read to the parent in a language the individual understands. A form must be certified by an immigration officer and include mention of the use of an interpreter. The reading of the election form was ordered July 10 by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw.

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[MineralMan]

1. This should lead to a major federal lawsuit.

I'm sure that's in the works already. If there is no documentation of consent, it's because nobody bothered with it and just went ahead and deported those people without their children.

Really, the countries of origin should be suing the United States in an international court, but they probably won't. The Trump administration should be tried for this in an international venue. It's a horrendous violation of human rights.

At a minimum, high immigration officials should be held in contempt by the Federal Court that ordered the children to be returned to their parents. Held in contempt and jailed until the original order is complied with.

[mythology]

3. They may not be able to to reunite them easily

It has got to be incredibly difficult to find the parents. They could be trying to get back, they likely didn't have good contact information in their home countries, etc.

The abject failure on this is astounding.

[mythology]

2. This is the unholy alliance of evil and incompetence

It amazes me how good they are at being this incredibly stupid.

[BigmanPigman]

4. I just listened to a volunteer who visited the border recently

and the govt is not doing anything to try to find the parents...it is no big deal to them. She said that hundreds of kids were told that their parents gave them away on purpose. This is child abuse and she said that the parents should be given visas or a path to citizenship to compensate for the crimes the US is still committing.