Trump won’t say how 545 migrant children will be reunited with families

US President Donald Trump has refused to detail how his administration plans to reunite hundreds of migrant children who remain separated from their parents under his “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

At the final presidential debate Thursday night, Trump was asked about the families of 545 children who have not been located three years after he ordered a crackdown on undocumented immigration.

“Yes, we’re working on it, we’re trying very hard,” Trump said when pressed on how his administration was planning to reunite the families.

However, the president did not provide details on a possible reunification plan and instead focused on the importance of border security.

In a court filing, the American Civil Liberties Union said545 children still remain separated from their parents.

About two-thirds of the parents were deported back to the country of origin in Central America, leaving their children behind in the US.

Trump defends controversial policy of separating children from parents

Trump has defended his controversial policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the southern border.

In the rush to carry out Trump’s orders, immigration agents failed to thoroughly record locations of the parents and they still cannot be found three years later.

The separation tactic was meant as a deterrent for immigrants by prosecuting adults who crossed into the US without proper authorization.

While many of the families have since been reunited, it was later revealed that the number of separated children was bigger than initially reported.

Eventually, the Trump administration reversed course following public outrage caused by media coverage of thousands of families being torn apart at the border.

Trump's separation policy causing irreversible harm to children: Experts

The Trump administration

An inspector general’s investigation has revealed that senior Department of Justice officials knew the administration’s immigration policy would separate families, yet chose to pursue it broadly.

The ongoing suffering of the separated families three years after the event has caused widespread anger among advocacy groups.

Paola Luisi, director of the coalition of almost 250 groups, Families Belong Together, said that search efforts would continue until all children have been reunited with their families.

“The Trump administration ripped 545 children away from their parents, lied about it, then lost track of them as they departed them into danger. That’s par for the course for a sadistic immigration system,”Luisi said.

Instead of addressing specifics on any reunification plans, Trump blamed the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama, claiming falsely that the children had been brought to the US by “bad people” not by their parents.

Biden admits Obama's immigration record a ‘mistake’

During the debate, Democratic nominee Joe Biden was also pressed over the Obama administration’s immigration policy, which included record deportations.

Biden sought to distance himself from the former president,whom he served as vice president.

“We made a mistake,” Biden said of their immigration policy. “It took too long to get it right. Took too long to get it right. I’ll be president of the United States, not vice president of the United States.”

Trump’s immigration policy similar to Obama’s: Analyst

Trump

Biden said Thursday he would create a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.

President Trump, however, hit out at Biden and Obama for creating detention facilities for undocumented immigrants in the first place. “Who made the cages, Joe,” Trump asked his Democratic challenger.

Trump also mocked the Obama administration’s so-called catch and release policy, which allowed undocumented immigrants to self-report for immigration court hearings. He said only immigrants with the “lowest IQ” would voluntarily sign up for that procedure.

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