ICE uses several databases & govt records to track down targets.

…Mellissa Harper, a former #ICE official who now heads #ORR, told a staff meeting on Thurs that the agency plans to use #DNA tests to establish familial relationships, one of the sources said. It was unclear whether DNA tests would be used only on cases that raised a red flag, or on a routine basis.

In the memo, #ICE said it had collected data from a number of sources on unaccompanied #minors & sorted them into 3 priority groups, "flight risk", "public safety" & "border security."

It directed agents to focus on #children deemed “flight risks” - including those ordered deported for missing court hearings & those released to sponsors who are not blood relatives.

As well as enforcing #immigration laws, the memo, headlined the “Unaccompanied Alien Children Joint Initiative Field Implementation,” said the initiative aims to ensure that #children are not victims of #HumanTrafficking or other forms of #exploitation.

The memo said the children would be served a notice to appear in immigration court or deported, if #deportation orders were pending against them.

The #FamilySeparation policy, including #babies from nursing #mothers, was met w/widespread international outrage. #Trump halted the policy in 2018, though up to 1,000 #children may still remain separated from parents, per Lee Gelernt, the lead #ACLU atty in a related legal challenge.

During his first term, #Trump introduced a "zero tolerance" policy that led to the separation of migrant #children from their parents at the #border. The children were sent to children's shelters run by the Office of #Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a government agency housed within the #HHS, while their parents were detained or deported.

BTW we rarely speak of #familySeparation of African Americans, Native Americans and Jewish families as another #nazi #fascist #whiteSupremacist genocidal tactic:

Holocaust survivor describes how Nazis took his brother’s life | AP News - https://apnews.com/article/manfred-goldberg-survivor-holocaust-jewish-auschwitz-memorial-17323374caa7c6556ce45c45dade8292

Slavery and America’s Legacy of Family Separation - AAIHS - https://www.aaihs.org/slavery-and-americas-legacy-of-family-separation/

U.S. Boarding Schools Were The Blueprint For Indigenous Family Separation In Canada : NPR - https://www.npr.org/2021/06/03/1003020286/u-s-boarding-schools-were-the-blueprint-for-indigenous-family-separation-in-cana

[had to take a break to walk the dog]

#Republicans are full on lying in their question setups. They laid the victims of Trump’s #FamilySeparation policy at Biden’s feet ffs. Outrageous.

Among the #Biden executive actions rescinded by #Trump include an order that directed the federal government to prioritize racial #equity in its policy making.

The Trump admin revoked a Biden executive order that created a task force to reunify families separated at the southern #border. In the time the task force was in place, it reunified nearly 800 children with their parents, according to a report it released last year.

“#Trump’s overreach on #immigration policies, such as his EO on #FamilySeparation, was widely denounced as #inhumane & often ineffective.
“And those were his wins. His #tax plan added $2T to the #NationalDebt; his promised extension of them would add $5.8T over the next decade. His withdrawal from the #Iran #nuclear deal #destabilized the #MiddleEast. His support for #antidemocratic #strongmen like #Putin emboldened #HumanRights abusers all over the world.