Expert: Trump's Forced Separation of Families Violated Due Process

Jorge Cancino, Univision, July 26, 2022

"[T]he total number of separated families is not known and some 1,500 children (data updated in February) are still lost in a limbo that, in the opinion of experts, it is not known how it will be repaired. ... “The forced separation of families during the Trump administration violated the due process rights of families,” says Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration practice at Cornell University School of Law in New York. “Many of them are now suing the US government for damages. The forced separation also set a bad precedent, both for future presidents and for leaders of other countries, who might try the same." ... Yale-Loehr says that criminal proceedings against asylum seekers and others trying to enter the United States “also set a bad precedent. People fleeing persecution have the right under US and international law to apply for asylum.” “U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions against others who try to enter the country illegally, but such prosecutions do not deter desperate people. Instead, we need smart border management and more temporary work visas to allow people to legally enter the United States.”