The Biden administration is undertaking an “all of government effort,” on immigration, with a task force working to reunite separated migrant families, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday.
“It is not just the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. It’s also the Department of State, working with our international partners; the Department of Health and Human Services, to bring whatever health relief we can to the families,” Mayorkas told MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff.
The work is also being done in conjunction with international organizations and partners, and with the private sector, he added.
“We are taking a look at all opportunities to restore these families, to bring stability and health to them,” said Mayorkas.
Merrick Garland, if confirmed as attorney general, will be a member of the task force, but Mayorkas bypassed a question from Soboroff about whether his role would be to “look into potential criminality of the Trump administration” in connection with the immigrant situation.
“We are focused right now, Jacob, on reuniting the families and restoring them to the best of our abilities,” said Mayorkas, adding that he hasn’t “excluded anything” while working to make sure the migrant family separation issues don’t happen again
“What I’m focused on right now is reuniting the families,” he said. “In terms of not happening again, our intention, also in the task force, after the reunification of the families, after the restoration of the families, to the best of our abilities and as fully as the law permits, is to build institutional safeguards to make sure it does not happen again.”
When asked if the efforts will include financial restitution or mental health services for the families, Mayorkas said the task force is “taking a look at all opportunities to restore these families, to bring stability and health to them … we are going to take a look at all the options and lean forward.”
Source: Newmax
