BORDER/CHILDREN/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday [6-20-18] directed his administration to try to detain migrant families together amid a growing political firestorm over a new policy that had separated adults arriving at the southern border from thousands of children traveling with them. In an executive order, Mr. Trump said families seeking asylum should be detained together when ‘appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.’ He also kept in place the administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy, instituted earlier in the spring, of prosecuting adults who attempt illegal entry into the U.S. It wasn’t immediately clear how the order would change the treatment of children traveling with apprehended adults as several legal and logistical hurdles stand in the way. A longstanding federal-court settlement, known as the Flores agreement, bars the government from jailing migrant children. The move by the administration to continue arresting adults while keeping their children with them in custody could run afoul of that settlement. Mr. Trump in the order directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to try to modify that court settlement to allow the detainment of families while their legal cases are considered.”
-Louise Radnofsky and Siobhan Hughes, “Trump Orders Migrant Families Be Detained Together,” The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2018 5:46 pm