Isolated migrant children, a new symbol of the US presidential campaign
The drama of the 545 children separated on the American-Mexican border and whose parents remain untraceable was invited into the American presidential campaign in favor of the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Thursday.
“How can these families ever be reunited? “Asked journalist Kristen Welker, addressing the President of the United States.
The parents of 545 children separated when they entered the United States since 2017 have not been found, according to the powerful civil rights association ACLU.
"We are working on it, we are making a lot of efforts," replied Donald Trump, without further clarification, more than two years after a federal judge ordered the end of the separations and the reunification of families.
It is not the government, but associations, in particular the ACLU, which do most of the research to find the parents, of whom about two-thirds, expelled, are now in their country of origin, according to their estimate.
"The children were brought in by coyotes and a lot of bad guys, the cartels, to enter the country," said Donald Trump, assuring that many had been brought to the border without their parents.
The ACLU, on the basis of data communicated by the American administration, however noted more than 5000 cases of effective separation. “It's criminal”, denounced Joe Biden during the debate.
“Today we have the safest border we have ever had,” continued the Head of State to justify his migration policy.
"The beginning of a nightmare"
"They are very well taken care of," said the Republican billionaire about unaccompanied minors, who are, according to him, in "very clean" premises.
The Department of Homeland Security assured the Washington Post that all these children, of whom about 60 are under five, have now been entrusted to relatives or a referent adult.
But several observers have testified to the worrying accommodation conditions of these minors when they were still in closed reception centers, especially in terms of hygiene.
"If the president considers polyester blankets, concrete floors, windowless rooms and fences to be the norm for children's services, he is missing the point," Krish O 'said. Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services association, after the debate.
“These conditions were just the beginning of a three-year nightmare that has not ended and could traumatize them for the rest of their lives,” he added.
Beyond the separation policy, since abandoned, the difficulties in reuniting families still broken up are “incredible negligence”, according to George Hoffman, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Houston, which supports migrants in their efforts.
"The Trump administration implemented this policy to satisfy its base, without legal authority," he adds, also mentioning the closure of borders to nationals of countries where the Muslim religion is dominant.
Pushed to justify himself, Donald Trump returned the ball to the Democratic camp, repeating several times: "who built the cages, Joe? "
He was referring to warehouses converted into accommodation centers by the Obama administration, overtaken by a wave of migrants that he could no longer manage.
Former vice-president of Barack Obama, Joe Biden did not directly counter-attack on the subject, but specified that the Obama administration had never ordered the separation of children at the border.
Contrary to what he had promised during his first campaign, Donald Trump only had a few kilometers of wall built between Mexico and the United States in places where one did not already exist.
But it has adopted a tough migration policy, restricting visa, asylum and nationality applications, while strengthening the prerogatives of the immigration service, ICE.
