US border crisis: What is happening to separated migrant families now the deadline for reunification has arrived?

Thousands of children have been separated from their parents after crossing the US border (REUTERS)

The US government deadline to reunite immigrant families separated at the border has arrived, and thousands of children appear to still be separated from their parents.

While the administration of Donald Trump has been told to reunite those families, the process has not proceeded as quickly as the court may have liked.

With images and stories of children being taken from their parents after crossing the US-Mexico border, the issue has galvanized the American public.

Here’s what you need to know about American immigrant family separation as the deadline for reunification looms.

1. How did this all start?

   The Trump administration began its family separation policy – sometimes referred to as a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal immigration – in April, when Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, notified attorneys on the southern US border to prosecute any immigrant crossing the border illegally.

   In doing so, Mr Sessions cited a 203 per cent increase in illegal border crossings between 2017 and 2018 – and then a 37 per cent increase between February and March of this year.

   The memo announcing zero tolerance said that rise was the largest month-to-month increase since 2011.

2. How did the Trump administration policy change things?

   Under zero tolerance, adult immigrants who had crossed into the US illegally were hit with criminal charges and sent to immigration detention centres.

   Instead of previous policies which generally allowed for the release of families caught sneaking across the border as their cases were prosecuted, the families were separated since adult immigration detention centres were not fit to house families or children, and, according to federal law, the US cannot hold children in immigration detention for more than 20 days.

   Zero tolerance policies resulted in families being separated at the border even in instances where the government recognised that individuals had credible fears of returning to their home countries.

   That, in turn, resulted in intense media coverage and widespread dissemination of images showing children in metal cages in Texas, and in tent camps in the desert.

3. How has the backlash changed things?

   After the widespread family separations became well known – and dominated American news coverage – Mr Trump signed an executive order in June declaring that US policy is to keep families together.

   But, the executive order did not change the underlying intent of the zero tolerance directive. Immigrants coming into the US illegally are still subject to criminal prosecutions – even those who are seeking asylum – and Mr Trump’s executive order explicitly said that.

   What that order did envision, however, is a system that allows families to be detained together.

   That includes the idea to create detention centres on military bases in the US in ad hoc facilities. There has been talk of facilities like that on military bases in Texas, Alabama, and Arizona, for instance.

4. What’s the history behind this?

   There is some precedent to what is happening, as far as American policy towards detaining children is concerned.

   A long-running class-action lawsuit over the treatment of children in immigration custody that ended in 1997 – known as the Flores settlement – declared that the US government is obligated to relate children to relatives or — if none are available or found — to a licensed program for children within three to five days of detention.

   If those conditions are impossible, the settlement states that their detentions would be in the “least restrictive” setting possible for the children, given their age and other needs.

   This was extended to family dentition during the Obama administration, when a judge ruled that the administration’s policy to hold families in detention together was unlawful. That administration had implemented the policy in response to a surge of migrants during Mr Obama’s second term.

5. Why are the immigrants coming to the US?

   Many of the immigrants are coming to the US seeking a safe haven from the violent and dangerous conditions in their home countries.

   That includes immigrants from El Salvador, for instance, where rampant gang violence has earned the country a top rank in the world for murder.

   When they have arrived at the US border and submitted themselves for asylum, some have received credible fear designation – a first step towards receiving asylum.

   Still, they have faced criminal prosecution, and have therefore been separated from their children.

   In some cases parents were told by immigration officials that their children were being taken away for baths or a fresh set of clothes, only to later learn that their children had been taken elsewhere.

   Facilities have housed children all over the US, including in Texas and New York.

6. Where are things now?

   A US court in June ruled that the government must reunite parents and children, and that immigration forces needed to stop most family separations at the border.

   That was viewed as a major rebuke of the Trump administration policies – and mandated that the government reunite all children under the age of five with their parents within 14 days, and all minor children over the age of five within 30 days.

   That has resulted in reunification, and also chaos.

   Some parents – around 463 – were reportedly pushed to self deport in order to be reunited with their children (regardless of asylum seeking status), and it has been reported that 1,012 children have been reunited with their parents.

   Because of the sheer number of children taken from their families – estimates run as high as 3,000 by some accounts, though the government has pegged it closer to 2,000 – there have been some issues with reunification in certain circumstances.

7. What impact could this have for Trump, politically?

   The White House could face significant legal and political consequences over its zero tolerance policy that extend long after most migrant parents are finally reunited with their children.

   For now, it remains unclear what legal ramifications the administration could face for failing to meet Thursday’s deadline, if any.

   Dana Sabraw, a California district judge, praised the federal government for reuniting over 1,000 families in the weeks since Mr Trump signed an executive order scaling back his zero tolerance policy, describing the progress as “remarkable".

   “The government has to be commended for its efforts in that regard,” Ms Sabraw said.

   Still, the political impact could prove damaging for Republicans and Mr Trump leading into the 2018 midterm elections.

   Along the border, migrant and civil rights groups alike are mobilising voters to reject the hard-line immigration policies Republicans have adopted under the current administration.

   “Chaos and cruelty govern the US government’s treatment of families on the border,” Efren Olivares, a programme director at the Texas Civil Rights Project, told The Independent in a statement.

   ”The Trump Administration’s zero tolerance policy is at the heart of this manufactured crisis.

   "As long as it is in place, the health and wellbeing of children will continue to be at risk, and asylum seekers will continue to be traumatized to frighten away others who have the legal right to seek safety.”

   Mr Trump’s approval ratings significantly dropped as the crisis along the border became a national story, falling four points to 41 per cent in a matter of days, according to Gallup’s weekly presidential job approval poll. Meanwhile, his disapproval ratings continued to climb to 55 per cent.

   If those trends continue, the president’s approval ratings among Republicans will likely suffer before November. What impact that has in elected officials continuing to support his administration’s hard-line immigration policies remains to be seen.