LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - After a widespread outcry, President Donald Trump reversed course Wednesday, June 20, and signed an executive order to end the policy separating children from their parents after they are caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Central Arkansas religious leaders and immigrant advocates said they were pleased to a degree, but still, have lots of questions.
Maria Meneses, a community organizer for Arkansas United Community Coalition, said she was not surprised to see President Trump sign the executive order.
“I felt the pressure already accumulating,” she said. “So, by then, you know, he knew he messed up.”
During a signing event at the White House, President Trump said he shared some of the same feelings as the critics of the policy.
“I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated,” he said.
At the same moment, a group of faith leaders held a prayer rally in downtown Little Rock. They denounced the separation of immigrant families and asked their congregants to call their members of Congress to demand they take a merciful approach to immigration reform.
“We need to deal with immigrants like they are our neighbors,” said David Cook, legislative director for Faith Voices Arkansas, “And love them and be filled with compassion. And right now, we think some of the policies that have been created at the federal level are clothed with bigotry and hatred and an unrealistic fear.”
Meneses said there was one crucial issue that was not addressed in the executive order.
“There’s thousands of people still separated,” she said. “So, what’s he going to do about that?”
Administration officials told the Associated Press Wednesday night that the 2,300 kids taken from their families will not be immediately reunited, and it is still too early in the process to know how long that will take.
Meneses said that even if families are reunited tomorrow, the damage caused by the previous policy will be permanent.
“Ultimately, that’s going to leave some [marks] on the child’s life,” she said. “It’s going to damage that child, as well as [that] family.”
A Justice Department spokesperson said it will also ask a judge to allow it to detain families indefinitely until their asylum hearings are completed.
“I mean, what they used to do is 20 days [in detention centers], and then you get the ankle bracelet, and so, monitor people that way,” Meneses said. “But maintaining them all together and imprisoning them is not right.”
She added that the continued enforcement of the “zero tolerance” policy also will not change the desire among so many immigrants to cross the border, both legally and illegally.
“People are fleeing from gang violence, from poverty, and so forth, and coming into this country to seek asylum,” she said, “Where the United States is known, you know: ‘Bring me your tired, your poor and your hungry.’”
A group of Health and Human Services staff members will inspect Little Rock Air Force Base on Thursday, June 21, to see if it could be a possible temporary home for undocumented children.
Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-Arkansas) said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that he is “supportive of a border policy that controls and protects our nation’s border without tearing families apart. I am pleased that the President has taken executive action to prevent separating children from their parents. If we can be helpful here in Arkansas to address border security and keep families together, we want to be."
Representative French Hill (R-Arkansas) said Wednesday evening he is against the use of LRAFB. He said in a statement:
“I support the president’s executive order to keep families together while their immigration status is determined, and I’m working with my colleagues in the House and Senate to provide a permanent, legislative, and compassionate solution. These children belong with their parents at the border, not hundreds of miles away at the Little Rock Air Force Base or other locations in Arkansas.”