The most important
John Kelly confirmed that the Department is considering separating children from their parents at the border. The measure will deter those who want to cross the border illegally with minors.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly confirmed that the Department is considering separating children from their parents when they cross the border illegally.
"We have enormous experience in dealing with unaccompanied minors," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. "We deliver them to (Health and Human Services) and they do a very, very good job taking them to foster homes or reuniting them with their parents or relatives in the United States."
And he continued: "Yes, I am considering it, to prevent further movements along this terribly dangerous network, I am considering exactly that, and they would be well treated while we take care of their parents ... It is the most important thing to me, Wolf, to try to keep people out of this horrible network. "
A senior Interior Security official had previously told CNN that the Department was considering a proposal to separate children from adults when they try to enter the country illegally on the southern border.
The official told CNN that the proposal is aimed at discouraging the exploitation of children.
At present, when adults enter the country accompanied by minors, they are usually released and can remain in the country while their causes are resolved, according to the official.
The proposal would allow US immigration officials to separate children from adults with those who arrived. Adults could remain in custody, and children would be transferred to another place under protective status, possibly with family members already in the country or child protection services.
In a statement to CNN last week, Department of Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said the agency "continually explores options that may discourage even starting the trip."
"The trip to the north is very dangerous, with too many situations in which children, brought by their parents, relatives or smugglers, are often exploited, victims of abuse or even lose their lives," Lapan said. moment.
Leon Fresco, former Justice Department official in the administration of President Barack Obama, said the previous government considered it, but ultimately rejected the measure.
"It was never carried out because the idea was too detrimental to the safety of children separated from their parents, and it was thought that it was always preferable to stop the family as a unit or free the family as a unit," Fresco added.
