US: Joe Biden reunites over 100 children & parents separated under Trump's border policy

Days before completing one year at the office, the Biden administration has reunited at least 100 children separated from their parents by then US President Donald Trump. These children were separated due to Trump's zero-tolerance border policy.

According to the announcement made by the Department of Homeland Security, these children were reunited on December 23, Thursday, and around 350 applications are under process. The department said that these 350 children will be reunited by the first or second week of January next year.

"I would have loved to have this happen much more quickly. But we are making progress and I feel like we're gaining momentum," said Michelle Brane, executive director of the administration’s Family Reunification Task Force.

Here's the tweet of Homeland Security Secretary:

Evidently, the latest development came almost a year after incumbent President Joe Biden had announced to reunite the families who were separated by Trump's policy. Biden had issued an executive order on the first day of his tenure. While announcing the order, Biden called the practice of forcibly separating parents and children at the US-Mexico border a "coward" and "inhumane" action.

Hailing the efforts of the Biden administration, the community organisations and the staff involved in tracing the family members of the children, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, "We have a lot more work to do."

"We are dedicated to finding every family and giving them the chance to reunite and to heal," he wrote on Twitter. 

Trump's US border policy left 5,500 children separated from their parents

Narrating the difficulties of the task force, Mayorkas said the data related to the missing family members are very complicated. In addition, he said that there are thousands of cases that are still pending as the children have no clue of their parents or other family members.

Besides, numerous parents are in remote Central American communities and were unable to track down their children or get to the United States to retrieve them, said Homeland Security Secretary. It is worth mentioning that nearly 5,500 children were forcibly removed from their parents under the Trump administration around three years ago.

The then administration had argued that the policy would reduce the influx of migrants reaching the US-Mexico border. However, after facing backlash from his own party, Trump stopped the practice. Meanwhile, in September this year, Biden had reunited 50 families when the administration announced a partnership to speed up the effort with the International Organization for Migration.

With inputs from AP

Image: AP