WASHINGTON (CN) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order ending his administration’s controversial policy of separating families at the U.S. border with Mexico.
"We are keeping families together," the president said as he signed the order while seated at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. He was flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen during the signing, and did not make reference to the actual text of the document.
He did, however, say the administration's "zero tolerance" policy on illegal immigration will continue.
The order directs the secretary of Homeland Security to keep alien families together during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings "to extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, involving their members."
"The Secretary shall not, however, detain an alien family together when there is a concern that detention of an alien child with the child's alien parent would pose a risk to the child's welfare," the order says.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the Pentagon will "respond if requested" to house migrants detained after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
When a reporter noted that federal agencies have assessed four military bases for potential use as temporary housing for detained migrants, including unaccompanied children, Mattis said the Pentagon will "support whatever" the Department of Homeland Security says it needs. In the meantime, he said, this is not a matter for the Pentagon to comment on.
Despite the about face on separations, administration continues to maintain through the order that it will "rigorously enforce our immigration laws.
"Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time," it says. "When an alien enters or attempts to enter the country anywhere else, that alien has committed at least the crime of improper entry and is subject to a fine or imprisonment under section 1325(a) of title 8, United States Code."
Consistent with the position the president has espoused in recent days, the order says "it is unfortunate that Congress's failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law."
The signing -- a bit of theatrics as Trump could have rescinded the separation policy with a phone call -- capped a hectic 24 hours for Trump and the officials who were enforcing the separation policy.
Later, during a briefing with reporters, Justice Department officials suggested the president's executive order may not be a lasting solution to the immigration quandary after all.
According to Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice Department official, the precedent for holding children was established by the 1997 case, Flores v. Reno, the settlement of which states the government can only detain families together for "up to 20 days."
And that, Hamilton said, puts the administration in an "untenable" situation. Trump’s executive order keeps families intact after the parents have been arrested for unlawfully crossing the border, but it also seeks to have families detained together through the full length of any court proceedings.
Since proceedings can drag on for months or even years, the executive order's mandates will likely come into conflict with Flores time and again unless a court extends the settlement's deadline.
