The Department of Homeland Security slammed two NBC reporters for publishing on Tuesday afternoon what it called a “factually inaccurate” story that stated illegal immigrant parents were given a choice of being deported with or without their children as the only way to be reunited after being separated for illegal entry.
Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff reported the only way the Trump administration will allow family units to be reunited is if the parent agrees to be deported and have his or her asylum request rescinded. Then the parent can return home with or without the child.
A DHS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the policy being referenced has existed for “decades” and that Ainsley misinterpreted comments U.S. officials made in response to a recent court order and never asked DHS for comment.
“She doesn’t know what she’s reading,” the DHS spokesperson said over the phone when asked about the information in the story. A representative for NBC Universal could not be reached for comment.
The DHS official said parents and children are held in different dockets so if a parent finishes illegal entry court proceedings and is ordered deported, they are given the option to then ask that the child be taken out of his or her separate docket and also sent home.
The spokesperson added that parents are not being forced to voluntarily deport themselves in order to be reunited with their children.
The NBC report said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had been tasked with asking parents to pick one of two options: “I am requesting to reunite with my child(ren) for the purpose of repatriation to my country of citizenship,” or “I am affirmatively, knowingly, and voluntarily requesting to return to my country of citizenship without my minor child(ren) who I understand will remain in the [U.S.] to pursue available claims of relief.”
Later Tuesday evening, ICE issued a statement that said the form NBC reported on was part of the Detained Parents Directive and “only applies to parents with a final order and who are part of a specific class action suit.”
“This form has absolutely nothing to do with those who have pending asylum claims,” Jennifer D. Elzea, acting ICE press secretary wrote. “Alien parents who are ordered removed can elect to be removed with or without their children. Neither choice has any bearing on the alien’s eligibility to apply for protections available to them under the law.”
The Trump administration chose in April to take a “zero-tolerance” approach to illegal entrants and moved to prosecute parents and had the Department of Health and Human Services take custody and find family in the U.S. with whom to place the children.
By the time Trump took executive action in mid-June not to separate families following a national outcry against the administration’s actions, 2,300 children had been taken into HHS custody while their parents waited for prosecution or sentencing.
HHS could not specify how many of the original 2,300 separated children have been placed with family members or sponsors in the U.S. or reunited with parents.
“As HHS continues to evaluate the impact of the District Court ruling, and given the constantly changing number of unaccompanied alien children in our care (every day minors are referred to our care and released from our care to parents, close relatives or suitable sponsors), we are providing the total number of unaccompanied alien children in the care of HHS-funded grantees. While we understand the interest in detailed breakdowns of this information, our mission has been and remains to provide every minor transferred to HHS, regardless of the circumstances, with quality and age-appropriate care and a speedy and safe release to a sponsor. Currently, there are more than 11,800 minors in our care,” HHS said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
