Trump Is Considering More Options to Separate Families at the Border

It’s a well-known fact that President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance policy” — which separated families attempting to cross the U.S./Mexico border — was one of his greatest disasters. Not only are children still separated from their families, even though a judge ordered every single child to be reunited with their parents, but the trauma that these people have endured has only just begun.

That, however, means nothing to Trump because his administration is still considering separating families at the border in one way or another. Over the weekend, Trump was asked about a Washington Post story that claims the White House is considering revamping efforts to separate families who don’t have documentation to enter the U.S.

Trump responded by saying: “We’re looking at everything that you could look at when it comes to illegal immigration.” He went on to say, “We have people that are trying to get into our country because of how well our country is doing. You know, in the old days, when the country wasn’t doing well, it was a lot easier. Now everybody wants to come in, and they come in illegally, and they use children. In many cases, the children aren’t theirs. They grab them, and they want to come in with the children.”

Fact check:

He created the humanitarian tragedy.

They are not taking care of it, they’ve lost track of countless people.

The # of people crossing the border is down from what it was b4.

Immigrants don’t grab other people’s children, it’s Trump who grabs what he shouldn’t. https://t.co/skIOTgzxud

— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) October 13, 2018

The Post is reporting that one of the ideas that the Trump administration is considering is called “binary choice.” This proposed option for undocumented families would mean that the government would “detain asylum-seeking families together for up to 20 days, then give parents a choice — stay in family detention with their child for months or years as their immigration case proceeds, or allow children to be taken to a government shelter so other relatives or guardians can seek custody.”

While the White House may be looking to start a new initiative at the border, this idea will most likely be another disaster. As we saw with their original policy, the government had no intention of reuniting the families which is why they had no system in place to track the incoming people. It also was clear that shelters and workers were not prepared in handling so many people, and if you need proof of that just look at the several workers that were arrested for assaulting the children.

However, one of the biggest reasons the Trump administration doesn’t care about taking in people, regardless of how many, is because these private shelters are making millions in federal funds in order to house adults and children. So for them, it’s a win-win.