Biden pledges to reunite separated migrant families if elected

Democrat candidate Joe Biden says he will issue an executive order on day one of his presidency to reunite 545 families

In this Dec. 11, 2018 photo, an asylum-seeking boy from Central America runs down a hallway after arriving from an immigration detention centre to a shelter in San Diego. AP Photo

US Democratic nominee Joe Biden pledged that if elected he would sign an executive order on the first day of his presidency to reunite 545 migrant children with their parents.

The families were separated under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, under which thousands of children were separated from their parents at the Mexican border.

Mr Trump bowed to political pressure and rescinded the policy after tremendous backlash.

The US government has tried to reunite these families but has not been able to find the parents of 545 migrant children.

The families were separated between 2017 and 2018, court documents showed.

About 60 of the children were under the age of 5 when they were separated.

A Biden campaign video said the former vice president would create a federal task force to reunite these families.

The video features a clip from a presidential debate, in which Mr Biden asks Donald Trump: “What happened?”

“Their kids were ripped from their arms and separated, and now they cannot find over 500 sets of those parents and those kids are alone, nowhere to go,” Mr Biden said. “It’s criminal."

Many of the children were from Central America and were housed in centres that lacked basic necessities, even beds.

Lawyers who visited centres in south Texas called the conditions "deplorable" and asked the courts to intervene.

They asked the courts to hold the US government in contempt for “flagrant and persistent” breaches of a 1997 agreement that governs the treatment of children in immigration detention.

A report released on Thursday by the House judiciary committee found “reckless incompetence and intentional cruelty” in Mr Trump’s separation policy.

The two-year investigation found the Trump administration separated families seeking asylum as a means of deterrence, and was "wilfully blind to its cruelty and determined to go to unthinkable extremes to deliver on political promises".

“The chaos and cruelty were exacerbated by carelessness in tracking separations,” the report said.

The government lacked the capacity to track separated family members and record keeping was insufficient to ensure family were reunited.

“As a result of this dark chapter in our nation’s history, hundreds of migrant children may never be reunited with their parents,” the report said.

“We remain committed to holding the Trump administration accountable and continuing to shed light on this dark moment in our country’s history."

The 2020 campaign - in pictures:

US President Donald Trump listens as Nigel Farage (R) speaks during a Make America Great Again rally at Phoenix Goodyear Airport October 28, 2020, in Goodyear, Arizona. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski

U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up during a campaign rally at Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Goodyear, Arizona, U.S., October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Democratic U.S. presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden takes part in a virtual Get Out the Vote event with Oprah Winfrey in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

California Senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris speaks during a drive-in campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona on October 28, 2020. / AFP / ARIANA DREHSLER

Vice President Mike Pence motions to his daughter Audrey Pence to walk on stage after he spoke during a campaign top on behalf of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, in Flint, Mich. (Nicole Hester/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Jessie Dales entertains supporters as they wait in line to enter the venue where US President Donald J. Trump will speak on a campaign stop, outside the venue at Goodyear Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. EPA

Poll worker Alice Machinist, of Newton, Mass., right, wears a mask and shield out of concern for the coronavirus while assisting a voter, left, with a ballot during early in-person general election voting, at the Newton Free Library, in Newton, Massachusetts. AP Photo

Democratic U.S. presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill wave as they depart after casting their votes in the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Wilmington, Delaware, Reuters

Mark Swindell (R) and his daughters Ivy (L) and Ella try to keep warm at dawn while waiting in line to attend a campaign rally with U.S. President Donald Trump at Phoenix Goodyear Airport n Goodyear, Arizona. AFP

Tara Immen of Happy Valley, Arizona, wears decorative glasses while waiting in line to attend a campaign rally with U.S. President Donald Trump at Phoenix Goodyear Airport. AFP

-A truck adorned with decorations and a Mitch McConnell sign sits outside of the venue where U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, makes a campaign stop. AFP

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell stands and speaks to the press and his supporters during a campaign stop in Smithfield, Kentucky. AFP

Julian Belilty, from the Kalorama neighbourhood of the District of Columbia, casts his early vote at the Marie Reed Elementary School in the Adams Morgan Neighborhood in Washington, U.S.. Reuters

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks outside of the state building after voting in Wilmington, Delaware,. AFP

Scott Brady stands in front of his house with a Trump campaign sign in Springfield, Pa. Once a Democrat, Brady says he switched parties to vote for Donald Trump in 2016, and plans to vote for him again in 2020. AP Photo

Supporters of President Donald Trump cheer as he walks off stage after speaking during a campaign rally at Phoenix Goodyear Airport, in Goodyear, Arizona. AP Photo