The United States and Mexico on Tuesday vowed to work with Central American nations to reunite migrant families separated at the U.S. border as quickly as possible, according to a Reuters report.
More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents after President Donald Trump administration began a “zero tolerance” policy in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The president last month stopped separating children from their parents
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen met with Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray, and ministers from Central America in Guatemala City to discuss the separations and how to beat the criminal gangs profiting from migration and , cracking down on people smugglers preying on migrants. “We remain very committed to re-unifying the families that have been separated as a result of illegal entry, and we will work with our colleagues here to repatriate as quickly as possible,” Nielsen told reporters at a news conference.
The meeting in Guatemala City came as a judge said the U.S. government must rapidly reunite 63 children under the age of five who were separated by immigration officials after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, or face penalties. Guatemalan authorities said that 11 reunited family groups comprising 131 people were flown back to the country in two flights carrying deportees earlier this week.
