Senior Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that the Biden administration has yet to reunite any migrant families separated under the Trump administration.
“Regarding the reunifications thus far, the task force has not directly reunified any families yet, and that’s because we really are trying to build the processes and the information,” a senior DHS official said.
The officials claim they are moving “as quickly as we can” to identify and reunite children who have been separated from their families.
According to the officials, the information they received from the Trump administration is “incomplete.” They also pointed out the number of families still separated is “likely to increase” as they look for children who have been separated from legal guardians who were not their parents.
Officials say they are taking careful steps to review the situation “because we are very concerned about not re-traumatizing” migrants.
President Joe Biden announced in February his plans to create a task force to reunite families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border led by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as IJR previously reported.
“President Biden believes that families belong together,” the press release read at the time. “He has made clear that reversing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies that separated thousands of families at the border is a top priority.”
Court-appointed monitors said in documents border facilities for migrant children are “stretched beyond thin” and have been experiencing “profound overcrowding.” It is also making it “impossible” to practice social distancing.
Fox News’s Peter Doocy pointed out a video to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during a press briefing last week of children “being thrown over” a border wall in New Mexico, as IJR reported.
“Our concern and our focus is on sending a clear message to the region that this is not the time to come,” Psaki said.
She continued, “You should not send your kids on this treacherous journey. That these smugglers are praying on vulnerabilities in these communities.”
More than 18,500 children crossed the border in March alone.
