In brief
The former Trump family‑separation program is back in action. The Biden administration has been re‑separating men, women and children from their loved ones, violating a 2023 settlement that guaranteed reunions and legal support. ACLU data shows more than 11,800 families affected, yet many still fear deportation and loss of asylum benefits.
In 2018, when three‑year‑old Ederson Galicia Alva was torn from his mother at the U.S.‑Mexico border, the Trump team’s family‑separation drama was just entering the headlines. Months later, lawyers fought to reunite the pair, only to have them split again in June last year and sent back to Guatemala, despite a 2023 settlement that promised families protection and a path to asylum.
Under the new administration, the U.S. has doubled its removal rate, and officials are reportedly taking parents and children apart at the border and even inside detention centers, ignoring the court order that bars such separations. ACLU records show that more than 11,800 families are still affected by the policy and that the full impact may never be known.
Trump’s Second Term – A Resurgence of Mass Deportations
The former president vowed to remove over one million people each year. The Brookings Institution estimates that hundreds of thousands of children now live in detention while their parents are held elsewhere, and that the Biden‑era remains plagued by policy contradictions: officials say the law is “not optional,” even when families have legal rights to asylum and reunification.
The Legal Shield That Has Gone Dark
The 2023 settlement granted Ms. L class members—parents, children and relatives—access to attorneys, work permits and counseling designed to remedy trauma. Since the settlement, however, officials have deported families who still owe removal appeals, and many fear that a court order for “humanitarian parole” may vanish as quickly as it arrives.
Ederson’s mother, Mirsy Maricela Alva Lopez, has endured several rounds of scrutiny, fingerprinting and re‑checks each time she returns. After an intimidating 12‑hour wait for an American Airlines flight, immigration agents questioned her again on arrival in Miami, cutting her stay to only two weeks of “humanitarian parole.”
What the Department is Saying
Speaking to reporters, DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis claimed the agency “complies with all court orders” even as activists wage legal battles to halt the separations. She said that every removal “re‑establishes the rule of law.” Her comments are at odds with the ACLU’s evidence that the policy is being ignored.
Facing the Deadline
Families must now submit requests to cancel pending deportation orders by December to avoid losing status. The legal‑services contract that supports them expires in August, and a new deadline for asylum applications looms as the settlement’s benefits wind down.
For many, the future feels uncertain. “We always read on our phones for news on our families,” Ederson recounted, hoping the next legal envelope will secure their right to stay in the U.S. Yet after each arrival, the same questions and fear of separation continue to shadow the children’s day‑to‑day life.
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