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Why are so many migrant families still separated?
Feb 16, 2021
Episode 370

Why are so many migrant families still separated?

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Unwinding the Trump administration's immigration rules and reuniting families are very different things.

President Joe Biden has a huge to-do list and a humanitarian crisis.

The new administration is working to repair norms and rollback policies covering so much from the Trump era. So where does immigration sit in the priority list? The White House already rescinded the “zero-tolerance” policy that separated migrant families, but unwinding rules and reuniting those families are very different things.

Hundreds of children are still separated from their parents today, well after the courts demanded reunification.

“It’s an overwhelming number of people, an overwhelming task that we’re talking about now,” said Caitlin Dickerson, immigration reporter for The Atlantic. “Discussions for separations began within weeks of President Trump taking office, so that thousands of families had already been separated before the policy was announced.”

Dickerson joins us today to talk about the scale of the problem, the Biden administration’s progress and the lasting effects on the families.

Later in the show, we’ll talk about the return of earmarks, women in the workplace and things that go brrr. Plus, we’ll get a very meta answer to the Make Me Smart question.

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The team

Marissa Cabrera Senior Producer
Bridget Bodnar Senior Producer
Tony Wagner Digital Producer