Donald Trump has issued a new executive order reversing his policy of taking children from illegal immigrants and holding them in detention centres.
The executive order promises to “keep families together” after days of international outrage over the treatment of undocumented children arriving in the US.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He reportedly made the decision after he was shown photographs of some of the detained children.
“It’s about keeping families together while at the same time being sure that we have a very powerful, very strong border, and border security will be equal if not greater than previously,” Trump said. “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.”
However, the order does not appear to address the fate of the reported 2,342 children separated from their families between 5 May and 9 June.
Babies and other young children are being housed in three “tender age” shelters, where lawyers and medics who have visited the facilities saw “playrooms full of crying preschool children”, The Guardian reports.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in April that the Trump administration would be enacting a “zero tolerance” policy for illegal immigrants, under which they would be jailed and prosecuted.
“As children cannot legally be jailed with their parents, they are kept in separate facilities,” says the BBC.
-
Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico’s sexual harassment problemUnder the Radar Claudia Sheinbaum vows action against sexual harassment after viral incident, but machismo and violence against women remains deeply ingrained
-
Political cartoons for November 9Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a ripoff, and the land of opportunity
-
A ‘golden age’ of nuclear powerThe Explainer The government is promising to ‘fire up nuclear power’. Why, and how?
-
Trump’s trade war: has China won?Talking Point US president wanted to punish Beijing, but the Asian superpower now holds the whip hand
-
Gregory Bovino: the officer leading Trump’s strong-arm immigration tacticsIn the Spotlight He has been referred to as the Border Patrol’s ‘commander-at-large’
-
‘This is where adaptation enters’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump ordered to fully fund SNAPSpeed Read The Justice Department is appealing the decision
-
Trump tariffs face stiff scrutiny at Supreme CourtSpeed Read Even some of the Court’s conservative justices appeared skeptical
-
The longest US government shutdown in historyThe Explainer Federal employees and low-income households have been particularly affected by ‘partisan standoffs’ in Washington
-
Democrats seek 2026 inspiration from special election routsIN THE SPOTLIGHT High-profile wins are helping a party demoralized by Trump’s reelection regain momentum
-
‘Not all news is bad’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
