While President Joe Biden has pledged that his administration will reunite the hundreds of immigrant families who were separated at the border by the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy, some leaders say that task is easier said than done.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley says they have a “moral responsibility” to do everything possible to reunite families and children but tracking them down will be a challenge.
“Children who have moved multiple times, being placed with multiple families in the United States … you have a lack of modern communications in many of the places where parents might have come from,” he said.
Merkley places part of the blame on for-profit immigration facilities.
“They short-change the children in every way possible in order to get more money for stockholders, so it’s a continuation of abuse,” he said.
The Biden Administration has yet to halt the use of private immigration centers, some of which house families and children.
Ohio Rep. Bob Gibbs says family separations are a problem but sees another underlying immigration concern.
“Parents south of the border actually sent their kids with cartels to get across the border for, I guess thinking a better life, and they would be let in and taken care of,” he said.
Biden also signed an executive order meant to address the root causes of migration.
