Immigrant advocacy groups, who for years scrambled to identify and reunite families separated at the US-Mexico border, are now preparing for the incoming administration and steps to rectify the trauma experienced by parents and children.
Last week, immigrant advocacy groups met with the Joe Biden transition team on family separation and next steps as part of a series of ongoing listening sessions, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, has also met with immigration leaders, among other groups, according to another source familiar with the discussions.
Immigrant advocacy groups hope Biden's administration can work toward restoring trust with the families who've grown increasingly skeptical of the US since having their kids taken from them.
"It's going to take a long time for families to trust the government if they're not seeing action," said Cathleen Caron, executive director at Justice in Motion, which is leading the on-the-ground efforts to locate the deported parents who were separated from their children.
Advocates have been putting together a list of recommendations on how the government can work to rectify the consequences of family separation and address the situation in a thoughtful and holistic manner, according to Conchita Cruz, a co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, which represents separated families.
The so-called "zero tolerance" policy -- which called for the criminal prosecutions of every adult illegally crossing the border and, as a result, the separation of thousands of families -- became a flashpoint during the Trump administration. The policy came to encapsulate the lengths President Donald Trump was willing to go to in order to deter migrants from coming to the US, regardless of their circumstances, and it revealed the disarray that ensues when agencies are unprepared.
Biden has condemned the policy, calling it "criminal" during a presidential debate in October. "Their kids were ripped from their arms and separated. And now they cannot find over 500 sets of those parents and those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It's criminal. It's criminal," he said.
