Some migrant parents may not reunite with children for years, experts warn

Amanda Holpuch - The Guardian

Although the US has ended its policy of family separation for families crossing the US border with Mexico, experts state that it may take years to reunify the families that have already been separated at the border due to different obstacles, according to this article from the Guardian. Some parents have already been deported without their children while other have been deemed "unfit" for their children to be returned to their care, says the article. Mark Greenberg, "who for three years led the health department agency tasked with caring for the forcibly separated children, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)," remarked that there wasn't "initial tracking to maintain a link between parents and their children," another obstacle to reunification. "There are also concerns about whether the parents who chose to be deported while their children remained in the US understood what they agreed to," says the article. "Attorneys have said immigration officials mischaracterized information, told parents they would be reunited with their child if they agreed to be deported and had them sign paperwork they did not understand because they cannot read or write."