[:en]Abogado Ray Ybarra Maldonado was quoted in an NPR segment about the Federal Government’s lack of effort in reuniting children with their parents. The segment, titled Migrant Family Reunifications Continue As Deadline Nears, states that the deadline for the government to reunited the children is July 26. In a Facebook Live video, Abogado Ray Ybarra Maldonado goes into further detail about the government’s lack of progress in complying with the Federal Judge’s Order. The status report was filed by both the Government and the American Civil Liberties Union on July 19, 2018.
- Key points: 2,551 total children are class members
In total, 2,551 children were taken from their parents and placed in a facility separate from their parents. The parents remained in immigration custody, where transferred to U.S. Marshall custody for a federal criminal charge, or were sent to state custody for a pending arrest warrant. Most common was to take the parents to federal court to charge them with the crimes of illegal entry (8 USC 1325) or illegal reentry (8 USC 1326). After they were given a criminal conviction they were then sent back to immigration custody.
- Only 1,606 possibly eligible, of this only 848 have been interview and cleared for reunification.
This means that just over half of those deemed eligible by ICE have actually been interviewed to be reunified. This means the government has an extremely large amount of interviews to still complete and only a very small timeframe in which to do that.
- Potential Class Members not eligible, 91 with prohibitive criminal record or deemed ineligible
Without explanation of the criteria used, the federal government is claiming 91 people have a criminal record which would prohibit them from being a member of the class or getting their child back. The ACLU asked for the criteria but as of the filing of the memo the federal government would not disclose what types of convictions or arrests would disqualify someone from being able to get their child back into their custody.
- 136 waived reunification
It is difficult to believe that 136 people chose not to be reunited with their children. The government likely lacks any video recording of these alleged waivers signed by individuals. Nobody knows if the waivers were attained with consent or the people were simply told to sign on the dotted line or lied to about what they were signing.
- Total Number of reunifications 346
A very small percentage given the extremely large number of families that still need to be reunited.
Please like our Facebook Page, Ybarra Maldonado Law Group, to be able to watch any future videos on this issue.
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