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Attorneys claim they cannot find the parents of 545 migrant children who were separated at the border by the Trump administration, plus juror in Breonna Taylor case speaks out and Pope calls for same-sex civil unions.
A group of attorneys, appointed by a federal judge tasked with identifying migrant families who were separated by the Trump administration at the US-Mexico border, claim that they have not been able to locate the parents of 545 migrant children.
Further, they assert that roughly two-thirds of those parents had been deported to Central America without their children, according to a filing Tuesday from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NBC reported. The group of attorneys that made the filing are from the ACLU and other pro-bono law firms.
In 2018, the Trump administration instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy for illegal immigrants, which included separating migrant children and their parents. Later, the administration confirmed that, under a pilot program, family separations had begun in 2017 along some parts of the border.
One of the reasons some families are separated at the border are situations in which a child and adult arrived together and border officials cannot establish the custodial relationship; or when border officials believe the custodian may be a threat to the child; or when the custodian is being detained for prosecution.
A grand jury juror who served in the Breonna Taylor case is speaking out, saying that the jurors did not agree that the fatal shooting was justified, NBC reported.
The disclosure came after a Kentucky judge issued an order releasing records in the preceding to show if “publicly elected officials are being honest.”
Last month, the grand jury indicted former Louisville Police Det. Brett Hankison on the charge of wanton endangerment for firing shots into the apartment of Taylor’s neighbors on March 13.
“Questions were asked about the additional charges and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn’t feel they could make them stick,” a statement by a juror identified only as “Grand Juror #1,” issued via an attorney, said. “The grand jury didn’t agree that certain actions were justified, nor did it decide the indictment should be the only charges in the Breonna Taylor case.”
In a new documentary, Pope Francis called for the creation of civil union laws for same-sex couples, according to the Catholic News Agency.
“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family,” Pope Francis said in the documentary. “They’re children of God and have a right to a family.”
“Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” the Holy Father added. “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that.”
Although the Pope did not comment further, speculation is that civil union marriages are a way to allow same-sex couples to have a legal binding in a secular sense, while not infringing on the doctrine of the Catholic Church and the Bible that marriage is between a man and woman.
While the United States already allows same-sex marriage, many parts of the world, especially those where the influence of the Catholic Church is strong, such unions are forbidden.
