BORDER/CHILDREN/GOP/IMMIGRATION/SENATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “GOP Sen. Thom Tillis announced legislation from a group of Republican senators that would stop the separation of immigrant children from their parents, according to a statement from his office that came right as Trump signed an executive order reversing the practice. The bill would allow undocumented immigrant families to stay together during their legal proceedings, which come from a policy to refer all people who cross the border illegally for criminal prosecution on top of immigration proceedings. As a result of enforcing that policy, families who cross illegally have been separated from their children because those accompanying the children are put into the criminal justice system. Trump is still calling on Congress to pass immigration legislation. White House officials — including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — were lobbying Wednesday [6-20-18] for a bill in the House that is broader in scope than Tillis’ Senate plan narrowly tailored to halt family separation. Besides changing that practice, the Senate’s ‘Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act’ would authorize 225 new immigration judges to be able to process asylum requests.”
-Daniella Diaz, “GOP senators introduce legislation to stop family separation,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 20, 2018 4:43 pm