Letter: Splitting up immigrant families didn’t start with Trump

The terrible practice of detention centers being used to separate children from their families took place during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. It is not something President Trump invented. In fact on June 20, 2018, he signed an executive order directing that families who enter the country illegally be kept together “to the extent permitted by law.” This policy was from the 1997 Flores lawsuit under Janet Reno and (the court) agreed they could detain unaccompanied minors for 20 days before being released to the Department of Health and Human Services. The Flores settlement placed limits on the government. President Trump’s executive order directs the attorney general to go to the California court that has jurisdiction over the Flores case and modify the agreement to allow the government to keep families together when parents are detained. He is doing what he can for the families under the law.

The upsetting picture being shown of children behind bars was from 2014. I don’t believe President Obama was being mean, just following the law that allowed an overabundance of illegals into the country, then having no place to accommodate these families.

Editor’s note: Some of the photos the reader cites may have been dated (without specifics, it’s impossible to know), but many others were current.