Trump team says it tore apart a family that 'might be' US citizens

The Trump administration now admits that at least one child it is holding in custody as part of its “zero tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexico border might be an American citizen.

The latest development highlights just how out of control Trump’s family separation policy that he unilaterally imposed has become.

The ACLU has sued the federal government over Trump’s policy, demanding that the 102 children under age 5 who have been taken from their parents immediately be returned to their families.

The government claims to have reunited 38 of those children, but says that 47 children may not be reunified in time for the July 10 deadline imposed in a previous court decision.

In a joint court filing, the Trump administration admits that one parent and child cannot be reunified because the parent has been missing for over a year, and “records show the parent and child might be U.S. citizens.”

Based on the filing, it seems American citizens are now being hauled into the racism-fueled dragnet of this administration’s immigration policies.

Trump has cast about for blame on his family separation policy. He tried to blame Democrats and previous administrations, but neither President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush prosecuted all border crossers to trigger family separations.

The blame falls squarely on Trump.

Now, ordered by the courts to reunify families, Trump’s team has been trying to delay, in part because it cannot even account for the whereabouts of all the thousands of families it has separated.

But as District Judge Dana Sabraw noted, this is a crisis created by the Trump administration, and whining about resolving it serves no purpose.

Sabraw said the “situation has reached a crisis level,” and described what Trump had created as “chaotic circumstances” around the families.

It was already bad enough that families were being ripped apart, and young children and toddlers were being held in detention centers. Trump has repeatedly complained about the due process to which such families are entitled, insisting that “going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go – will always be disfunctional (sic).”

But now we know that even American citizens “might be” subject to Trump’s barbaric policies and practices, and he and his team lack the will and ability to undo the damage.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.