Fact check: President Biden’s handling of immigrant children vs. Donald Trump’s handling of immigrant children

| 3:00 pm EST February 26, 2021
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President Biden is working to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This follows on the heels of multiple scandals during the Trump administration that included separating families, placing children in cages and widespread abuse allegations.
Republicans were eager to conflate Trump’s policy on children at the border with Biden’s policy. However, Trump’s treatment of children wasn’t controversial just because it resulted in children being detained at the border. It was controversial because Trump separated children from their parents, leaving thousands of very young children detained alone.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki shared that the Biden administration was forced to make a “tough choice” after 5,700 unaccompanied minors crossed the border, forcing of reopening a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas. However, these children arrived unaccompanied. They were not forcible separated from their parents and they are receiving proper care. The minors are housed in attractive rooms with carpeting, windows and proper beds — not in cages.

To overhaul ICE, Biden has implemented new rules to limit the agency’s power.
According to the Texas Tribune, ICE agents will focus “on national security threats, recent border crossers, and people completing prison and jail terms for aggravated felony convictions.”

Upon taking office, Biden established a task force to reunite hundreds of families still separated under Trump’s inhumane policy of separating children from their parents. According to NBC News, pro-bono lawyers have found 105 children in the past month. 506 children have still not been found. President Biden is working ethically to undo Trump’s horror camps and restore the world’s faith in our immigration system.