BORDER/CHILDREN/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The much-vilified U.S. policy of separating children from parents who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border could continue under certain circumstances because of ambiguous language in President Donald Trump’s order meant to end the practice, legal experts said…The order signed by Trump on Wednesday [6-20-18] calls for those families to be detained together but it permits separation if deemed that detention with a parent ‘would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.’ Family unity is the policy ‘where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources,’ the order said. Legal experts said this language could be exploited by the government to separate families on various grounds and be challenged in court, potentially adding to the welter of litigation against Trump’s hardline immigration policy. Despite Trump’s order, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would press on with a lawsuit arguing the family separation policy violated the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which holds no person can be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process. A family separated on the basis of a loophole in Trump’s executive order could potentially bring a similar due process challenge.”
-Jan Wolfe, “Despite Trump order, border child separations could go on: legal experts,” Reuters, June 21, 2018 2:03 am