Stephen Miller is reportedly pushing for a new family separation policy

President Trump is frustrated that his border crackdown has been curtailed, and is working on finding a way to legally separate migrant parents and children, The Washington Post reported Friday.

In an effort to dissuade migrant families from attempting to cross the border illegally, the White House is considering several different detention options. One possibility is that families seeking asylum will be detained together for up to 20 days, then will have to decide whether they want to stay in family detention or send the children to a government shelter.

Family detention would allow parents to stay with their children, but they could be detained for months or years as they get through the lengthy legal immigration process. On the other hand, allowing children to be taken into a shelter would mean other family members or guardians in the U.S. could take them into custody.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up

The consideration is a response to the fierce backlash to the administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration. Starting in May, thousands of migrant children were separated from their families to be detained separately as their parents were prosecuted. Trump signed an executive order ending the practice, but Vox reports that various loopholes have continued to separate families even as the administration works to comply with a court order to reunite all migrant family units.

White House adviser Stephen Miller, who has been at the front of the administration's hardline immigration policies, has reportedly been pushing to create a new policy. He reportedly felt that the practice was an effective deterrent against illegal immigration. Miller is apparently determined to reinstate the separations, no matter how bad "optics" may be. Read more at The Washington Post.