Immigration

In a reversal of Trump administration policy, Biden federal immigration officials will no longer collect information from the Department of Health and Human Services that could lead to the deportation of parents or other possible caregivers who step forward to care for children who cross the border unaccompanied seeking asylum.

The influential American Academy of Pediatrics has added to growing pressure on the incoming Biden administration to reverse the practice of separating children from their asylum-seeking parents at the Mexican border set by President Donald Trump, concurring with other prominent groups that the practice amounted to torture under international standards.

Two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols drew a line in the sand. The U.S. government had issued a directive requiring border agents to deport unaccompanied children, arguing that they could be vectors and contributing to the spread of COVID-19.

Comparing the threat of coronavirus to fire tearing through a house, a federal judge on Friday ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release minors who have been held in family detention facilities for more than 20 days by July 17.

COVID-19 has complicated the process of reuniting immigrant families with their children when a parent with an ongoing child welfare case is either in ICE custody in the U.S. or has been deported.