A George W. Bush-appointed federal judge has banned the government from separating families at the border for at least the next eight years as part of a settlement reached between families that were separated under the Trump administration and the Biden Administration, NBC News reports. The Biden Administration had already halted the draconian policy which was designed by Trump henchman Stephen Miller and his anti-immigration compatriots to punish families who crossed the US southern border illegally.
Due to the policy in place in 2017 through 2018, adults were sent to detention facilities while their children were sent to shelters; many times, parents were sent back to their home countries while their children remained in the United States. The Trump cabal made insufficient efforts to track the locations of the children, making reunification of families difficult and in some cases, impossible: even though the policy was ended in June 2018, 68 migrant children separated from their parents remain unaccounted for despite the efforts of federal agencies and volunteer organizations.