The United States government has abandoned negotiations to financially compensate families of migrants separated at the border with Mexico due to the “zero tolerance” policy of former President Donald Trump, officials said Thursday. two parts.
Joe Biden’s administration said no deal could be reached with lawyers for the families who filed complaints over the separations, while insisting that one could be found in the future.
“Although the parties failed to reach a settlement agreement this time around, we remain committed to engaging the plaintiffs and bringing justice to the victims of this heinous policy,” the Justice Department said in a statement. communicated.
The plaintiffs, who seek compensation for the psychological damage suffered by the separations, have announced that they will continue their legal battle.
“We will go back to court […] the trauma inflicted on these children and parents by our own government is incomprehensible. We have to do the right thing, ”said Lee Gelernt, lawyer for the American Union for Civil Liberties (ACLU).
Following his inauguration in January, Democratic President Joe Biden promised to pursue a more “humane” migration policy after the Trump era and his so-called “zero tolerance” policy, launched in 2018.
It consisted of instituting criminal proceedings against anyone who entered the border illegally with Mexico. Consequence: parents have been detained without their children.
According to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), nearly 4,000 migrant children had been separated from their families and only 1,786 minors were able to find them. However, court documents indicate that a total of 5,500 migrant children have been separated from their parents.
The number of arrests of undocumented migrants at the southern border of the United States has risen sharply in recent years, the majority of them coming from Central America and Mexico.