Donald Trump is planning on signing an executive order ending family separation according to the New York Times.
President Trump is preparing to issue an executive order as soon as Wednesday that ends the separation of families at the border by indefinitely detaining parents and children together, according to a person familiar with the White House plans.
Mr. Trump’s executive order would seek to get around an existing 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, that prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention — even if they are with their parents — for more than 20 days.
Stories of children being taken from their parents and images of teenagers in cage-like detention facilities have exploded into a full-blown political crisis for Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers, who are desperate for a response to critics who have called the practice “inhumane†and “evil.â€
This will likely lead to a legal challenge in the courts.
And the president could quickly find himself the subject of another legal challenge to his executive authority, much the way he attacked Mr. Obama for abusing the power of his office with an immigration executive order in 2014.
The legal reality:
1) Trump CAN lawfully end separation by voluntarily re-implementing “catch and release.”
2) He CANNOT lawfully end separation and maintain family detention beyond the Flores deadline.
3) Congress can GUARANTEE no separation by overriding Trump and Flores.
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 20, 2018
