Biden expected to delay immigration decrees, including task force to reunite families

WASHINGTON – The White House is likely to delay its rollout of a series of immigration decrees, including the long-awaited announcement of a task force to reunite separated migrant families under the Trump administration, two say sources close to the discussions.

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden ran ads promising to create a task force “from his first day as president.” In a memo describing the executive’s first actions, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said the Biden administration would “begin the difficult but critical job of reuniting families separated at the border.” . A separate planning document circulated among Biden officials said executive action on immigration would be unveiled on Friday.

Sources involved in the talks say they are being delayed “by at least a few days”, but declined to say what is the cause.

When the task force is announced, it is expected to be an interagency Department of Homeland Security, Health, and Human Services and State Department effort, led by Biden’s choice to manage DHS, Alejandro Mayorkas, according to three sources close to the planning.

Their goal will be to reunite all migrant families separated at the border – not by deportations from within the country – throughout the four years of the Trump presidency, the sources said. They will also produce a report on what led to the separations and recommend that such a policy never be repeated, although they will not conduct an investigation that could lead to criminal referrals of those responsible, the sources said. Instead, any investigation that requires subpoenaed witnesses will be left to the discretion of the Justice Department, the sources said.

But other key details are still being worked out, such as factors that may prevent families from being reunited and whether those who qualify but have been deported will benefit from special protections, such as assistance. humanitarian aid, to come to the United States.

All families separated at the border under the four years of the Trump administration, not just those separated during “zero tolerance”, will be eligible for reunification by the task force, according to three sources familiar with the planning discussions.

Nearly 3,000 migrant children have been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border under the “zero tolerance” policy, which systematically separated children from their parents whose only crime was to cross the border illegally in May and June 2018. But before that, more than 1,000 families were separated in a pilot program in and around El Paso, Texas. And after June 2018, the ACLU estimates that 1,000 more families were separated at the US border.

But many of those parents have now been deported, making them harder to find and, if found, potentially presenting them with the difficult choice of bringing their child home to a dangerous country or allowing them to live in United States with parents. The task force’s announcement is unlikely to include details on whether families will have special permission to come to the United States to reunite with their children.

Pro-bono groups that have so far worked to reunite separated families through the 2017 pilot program and through the 2018 zero tolerance claim they have not been able to reach the parents of more than 600 children and believe that two thirds of them have been expelled.