Trump signs executive order to 'keep families together' at the border

BREAKING: Trump says he'll be "signing something" on immigration, wants to keep migrant families together. http://apne.ws/hdU2dxp 

Trump just said: "We don't want people from the Middle East using children to come across our border."

Trump 5 days ago to reporters on WH lawn on family separation: TRUMP: “Excuse me, we have a one-vote edge. We need 60. So we need 10 votes. We can’t get them from the Democrats. Wait, wait, we can’t do it through an executive order https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/politics/trump-fox-and-friends-interview.html …

Just asked Secretary Nielsen if she stands by her comments from this week where she said “only Congress” can fix the situation involving families at border - despite Trump signing executive order. “Only Congress can act to secure the border, yes I do,” she said

Trump does not explain how the order will work given that he and his advisers had insisted only Congress could fix the problem.https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1009517691974160384 …

Specified in the opening "policy" section of the executive order: "It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law."

Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families

This Executive Order in no way deals with reuniting the *two thousand three hundred* children who have been torn away from their parents and remain separated. When will they see their parents again? They must be reunited immediately.

The ink isn’t even dry on the new executive order ending separation policy & some Democrats already arguing that keeping families together isn’t enough. Now they want them & their parents released after unlawful entry knowing full well that high % will never appear for hearing

That is untrue, Senator. Between 2003 and 2012, the percentage of all immigrants who failed to appear in court after being released has bounced between 20 percent and 40 percent, settling around 30%. Per the DOJ.

Just as President Trump was signing an executive order to stop the separation of families at the border... We learned than a 9 month old baby was separated from its parents, at the border, and sent to New York City, according to Mayor @BilldeBlasio

NYT reports that, rather than separating children from parents, the Trump administration will hold children indefinitely with their parents, violating a court settlement and inevitably triggering a legal challenge https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html …

JUST IN: Senior Justice Department official Gene Hamilton confirms the Flores settlement still controls, and that unless Congress or the court acts, the government can only detain families together for "up to 20 days."

Q’s that remain after this executive order: What will happen to the more than 2,000 kids who have already been separated from their parents? Where will these families be held now that the govt has built tent cities? Will journos be allowed to see living quarters of these fams?

Bottom line: Trump is backing down in one way but digging in in another: he's saying he'll keep families together, but he wants to do that by being granted the legal right to detain children with no time limits.

Text of the executive order Pres Trump just signed on family separations on the border is here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-seperation/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wh …