On December 10, 2021, the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force requested public input on how the government can prevent family separation from occurring again in the future. The request came more than three years after the Trump administration began prosecuting parents who had entered the United States with their children for unlawful entry or re-entry. This led to the unconscionable separation of more than 5,500 children from their parents. NIPNLG staff have extensive experience working directly with families affected by the Zero Tolerance policy and NIPNLG is class counsel to the Parent Asylum class in the Ms. L. v. ICE family separation litigation.
In a public comment, NIPNLG calls on the federal government to fully investigate the Trump administration's Zero Tolerance family separation policy and commit to full accountability for those separations. The comment also recommends that the federal government end ongoing Trump-era border policies that are resulting in family separation, repeal the laws that callously criminalize migration, and address the unconscionable backlogs of the Asylum Division of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Questions about this public comment? Contact agarcia@nipnlg.org.