El Paso: A Texas charitable organisation says 32 immigrant parents separated from their children after crossing the US-Mexico border were freed into its care, but they don't know where their kids are or when they might see them again despite government assurances that family reunification would be well organised.
People protest against the US immigration policy. Reuters
People protest against the US immigration policy. Reuters
The release on Sunday is believed to be the first, large one of its kind since President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that preserved a "zero-tolerance" policy for entering the country illegally but ended the practice of separating immigrant parents and children.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement offered no immediate comment.
Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House in El Paso, said the group of both mothers and fathers includes some from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, who arrived to his group after federal authorities withdrew criminal charges for illegal entry.
He didn't release names or personal details to protect the parents' privacy. Homeland security officials said they needed more specifics in order to check out their cases.
A Saturday night fact sheet by the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies said authorities know the location of all children in custody after separating them from their families at the border and are working to reunite them. It called the reunification process "well coordinated."
It also said parents must request that their child be deported with them. In the past, the fact sheet says, many parents elected to be deported without their children. That may be a reflection of violence or persecution they face in their home countries.