US President Donald Trump has bowed to public pressure and signed an executive order promising to “keep families together” in migrant detentions.
The executive order calls for:
- Immigrant families to be detained together while their legal cases are considered
- Expediting immigration cases involving families
- Requesting the modification of a court ruling that dictates how long immigrant children can be detained
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US youth shelter worker quit after being ordered to separate siblings[/caption]


Trump backs down
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington For days administration officials have insisted they were simply following the law as written and their “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings meant they “have to take the children away”, in the president’s words. Critics have countered that Mr Trump unilaterally created the situation that produced the heart-rending accounts of children separated from their parents, and he could unilaterally fix it. By taking executive action, the president is effectively acknowledging they were correct. Now the fight will probably move to the courts, with legal challenges to the administration’s decision to hold detained families together while their immigration status is adjudicated. That is more politically hospitable ground for Republicans, who already face challenging mid-term congressional elections.
Why the uproar?
In April, the US attorney general announced a “zero-tolerance” policy to criminally charge and jail undocumented border crossers. As children cannot legally be jailed with their parents, they are kept in separate facilities.


Where are the children taken?
Holding cells: They are first detained at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, where chain-link fenced enclosures are used, though the children can only be legally held there for three days. Detention centres: They are then supposed to be moved to one of around 100 detention centres run through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services. US officials recently showed reporters around a converted Walmart Supercenter in Texas which was housing migrant boys aged 10-17. They apparently had access to beds, classes and games.
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The US teens training in border patrol[/caption]

What happens now?
Mr Trump’s order says that families could remain together in detention instead of separating children from parents illegally crossing into the country. But immigrant children are only allowed to be held for 20 days, according to a 21-year-old landmark court decision known as the Flores agreement. The order also calls for the justice department to request to modify the Flores agreement to allow children to be held longer, but it is unclear what will happen if the law does not change.