Trump Admin Using Low-Level Criminal Records To Deny Families Reunification
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Alice Ollstein | July 16, 2018 6:00 am
The Trump administration is refusing to reunite nearly a dozen immigrant families with children younger than 5 based on the criminal record of the parent — even when the record in question involves a non-violent crime or even the lack of a conviction.
Attorneys challenging the separations and former DHS officials tell TPM that only a criminal record that indicates an imminent danger to the child should justify the continued separation, saying that records that would not have triggered removing the child from the parent in the first place in the past should not be used now to keep the family apart.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, who won a national injunction against the Trump administration forcing them to reunite all of the roughly 3,000 families separated under the “zero tolerance” policy, also tell TPM that the administration has not yet given them concrete proof of the criminal records they are citing to deny reunification — making it impossible for them to investigate and contest their authenticity and severity.
The Trump administration has reunited just over half of the children younger than 5 who were taken from their parents — and is telling federal courts that the rest are either currently or permanently ineligible for reunification for a variety of reasons, including the criminal records of the parents involved.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-admin-using-low-level-criminal-records-to-deny-families-reunification
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Food for thought.
If these are the charges, I don't consider most of them to be low-level. Some of them pose child-endangerment and would warrant CPS intervention and placement in foster care and possible termination of parental rights even if they are US citizens:
I'm not saying that I support Trump, it's just that the charges don't match the headline. I worked at a county hospital where we did tox screens on mothers. If mom had a positive tox screen,(same as DUI) the child was often sent to foster care. Also if a parent is charged with assault, that child is often removed from the home, until the case is resolved.
All immigrants should be given the same custodial rights as US citizens. If there is a family member that can take care of the child, the child needs to be sent to that family member, not detention. All efforts should be made to reunite parents with children if the parent has not committed a crime that poses child endangerment.
I don't see shoplifting, etc in these charges.
