Migrant children at border are still being separated from relatives for weeks under Biden admin [View all]

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/06/migrant-children-facility-used-house-minors-separated-family/4587455001/

The Biden administration is still sheltering children separated from close family members in federal facilities for weeks on end – something immigrant advocates and attorneys had hoped the new administration would resolve by now.

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The migrant children often arrive with a grandparent, older sibling or other relative but are separated until federal officials can confirm the accompanying adult is their relative, as required under U.S. law. The procedure, which is different from the highly controversial Trump administration policy of separating immigrant parents from their children, is designed to protect minors from human traffickers and grant them legal protections.

But it also classifies the youngsters as "unaccompanied minors" and places them in federal shelters until a sponsor or adult is vetted, a process that can take several weeks or even months.

Though not as dramatic as Trump administration-era family separations, which unleashed a furious backlash, separating children from close relatives could be equally detrimental, said Lisa Koop, associate director of legal services at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a legal advocacy group that represents young immigrants. "It really does look and feel in many ways like a parent-child separation," Koop said. "The trauma of the separation is very similar."