Trump Administration's Threat to Separate Mothers and Children Deter Illegal Migrants
Barely four months since assuming power, the Trump administration has fulfilled its campaign promise of plugging illegal migration from Mexico even without building a border wall. Authorities attribute this to the fear instilled in the psyche of Mexicans on the U.S. government's tough anti-immigration policy.
Last month, the number of Mexicans caught crossing the border illegally was over 1,100, a steep 71 percent drop from the 58,478 captured last December 2016, just before President Donald Trump was sworn into office. Since then, the number of arrests has declined until it reached only 23,589 in February.
But the figure in March was the most surprising, a month that usually sees a surge in crossings because of temperate weather after the winter season. This prompted the Senate's Homeland Security Committee to ask the Department of Homeland Security how they did it during an April 5 hearing.
Secretary John Kelly replied that he suggested separating parents and children upon their arrest. While the proposal was never implemented, it sent a serious, strong message to Mexicans who were considering violating immigration laws. For them, the thought of being separated from their children wasn't worth the risk.
The idea was broached at a working group called by Trump's transition team after his Nov. 8, 2016 election. The group quickly identified the source of large numbers of illegal migrants crossing the border: women and children. Nothing came out of the plan but the ensuing publicity was tremendous.
The U.S. government funded anti-immigration radio advertisements in Central America. One radio commercial in Honduras featured a mother saying, "It's been a year and I don't know if she is alive or dead. I'd do anything to have her here with me. Curse the day I sent her north."
The possibility that mothers and children might be separated at the border caused alarm, said Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Andrea Matamoros.
"That worries any mother that wants to go to the United States with their kid, and being separated drastically changes their plans," she said.
