United States: more than 900 migrant children separated from their parents for a year

Pmore than 900 migrant children have been separated from their families on the border between the United States and Mexico for a year, although the Trump government claimed to have put an end to the policy, according to a powerful US defense group Civil Rights Tuesday.

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This organization, the ACLU, says in court documents filed in federal court in San Diego, California, that the Trump administration accuses some migrant parents of minor offenses – including traffic offenses – or negligence in order to continue to separate them from their children.

The ACLU provides many examples of separated children, nearly 20% of whom are under five years old.

Among the migrants concerned, a father separated from his one-year-old daughter for not having changed her diaper, another separated from her son for not having been able to answer agents' questions at the border because of a disorder speech, or a third because he had HIV.

The government of President Donald Trump had decreed in the spring a policy of "zero tolerance" towards illegal immigration that had led to the separation of many families. A policy that sparked an uproar in the United States and abroad.

In June 2018, the White House tenant ordered an end, and a judge ordered the split families to be reunited unless the parents were a danger to their children.

The US government has since said it only separates if parents are at risk.

390,000 families arrested since 1 October

"It's shocking that the Trump administration continues to separate babies from their parents," said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the ACLU. "More than 900 families join thousands of others who have been torn apart by this cruel and illegal policy."

Only a minority of these 900 separated children since June of last year are actually in danger with their parents, according to the ACLU.

The organization is asking the court to clarify the criteria according to which these separations can take place.

A figure similar to that put forward by the ACLU was mentioned by Acting Home Security Minister Kevin McAleenan at a congressional hearing in mid-July. He had described separations as "rare" now.

About 390,000 families have been arrested at the southern border of the United States since October 1, according to statistics of US border guards.