WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would reverse policies which had been separating the children of illegal immigrants with their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But confusion remains; questions being left unanswered about where newly detained immigrants will be housed and how to reunite families that have already been separated.
A spokesman from the Pentagon told the New York Times on Thursday that military bases in Texas and Arkansas have been prepared to hold around 20,000 migrant children. But it was unclear if that included the families of the children, as well.
Federal agencies are said to be working on setting up a reunification process for families, one Trump administration official claimed. But they also maintained that a “zero-tolerance” policy is still in effect for anyone trying to enter illegally instead of seeking asylum.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives rejected a broad immigration overhaul which was supposed to be voted on early Thursday evening. Including policies regarding family separation, the overhaul would have also touched upon granting the children of undocumented workers a path to citizenship and, contrastingly, border wall funding.
In another twist, Trump tweeted Friday morning that Republicans should “stop wasting their time on immigration” before elections in November, which may give the party a majority in votes.
