What's happening at the US border

By Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha, Brian Ries and Amanda Wills, CNN

Updated 9:52 p.m. ET, June 22, 2018
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4:10 p.m. ET, June 21, 2018

A group of kids brought a cage and foil-like blankets to protest on Capitol Hill

CNN
CNN

A group of protesters are staging a demonstation at the US Capitol, as the House is set to begin voting on two immigration proposals.

The kids are wrapped in emergency thermal blankets, similar to the ones given to migrants taken into custody after crossing the US border. There's at least one cage among the group, an apparent reference to the chain-link fences some migrants have been kept behind. Some are yelling “shame” in unison.

LA RED (Liberation Action Respect Equity Dignity)/Faith in Action is putting on the demonstration to protest the "cruel treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration."

The organization’s director Richard Morales and his 10-year-old son are leading the demonstration.

11:42 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

Paul Ryan: We're trying to put families "at the head of the queue"

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he wants to see officials put families "at the head of the queue" for immigration court proceedings.

The comment came after a reporter asked about the compromise bill currently being whipped in the House, asking Ryan, "How long is it humane to hold children, even if they’re with their parents?"

Here's what Ryan said:

"What we want to do is put them at the head of the queue so they can be facilitated faster and have the proper housing available to house them."

He added: "I don't think Americans want to see an open border. We want to see a secure border. We want to enforce our immigration laws, and we want to keep families together."

11:26 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

Homeland Security chief: "We have a plan" to reunite separated children

From CNN’s Tal Kopan

Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images
Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was asked by CNN’s Tal Kopan if the government has a plan to reunite children who have already been separated from their parents. 

Here's how Nielsen replied:

"We have a plan to do that, as you know we do it on the back end. So a combination of DHS, DOJ, HHS reuniting as quickly as we can. But don’t forget the vast majority of those kids are [unaccompanied and separated children], so we have to find them someone."

10:47 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

New York City mayor: Some children in shelters have lice, bed bugs and chicken pox

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the Cayuga Center in East Harlem on Thursday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the Cayuga Center in East Harlem on Thursday. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says 239 migrant children are in the care of Cayuga Centers in Harlem. He visited the shelter yesterday.

The workers at the facility are "trying their best" to help the children, de Blasio said. However, he added that the kids still face significant emotional trauma and even physical health challenges.

"The kids — because they were held in group facilities when they came across the border — some have lice, some have bed bugs, chicken pox, all sorts of contagious situations, and, you know, just think of the chaos of all this. Both what the kids are going through emotionally, mentally, but also, you know, kids who unfortunately contracted some kind of disease and are being sent to where a whole bunch of other kids are. There's no rhyme or reason to it."

Watch more:

10:35 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

California couple raises more than $16 million to reunite families

From CNN’s Dan Simon

The California couple who started a campaign on Facebook to reunite immigrant families has now raised more than $16 million for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education an Legal Services (RAICES), according to the fundraising page.

Dave and Charlotte Willner are continuing their efforts in light of the President’s recent reversal on separating families.

Here's what they said in a statement:

"This is a reminder of the power we have when we all stand together against injustice and now RAICES' work becomes more important than ever. However, a change in policy doesn't automatically reunite these innocent children with their families or erase the trauma our government inflicted. These families will need legal representation, counseling and other crucial services that RAICES will be able to provide to more people and at a greater and faster scale than ever before because of these funds."

They also urge donations to other organizations as Facebook permits one beneficiary per fundraiser.

10:32 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

Homeland Security chief: Trump admin is doing everything it can to "secure our borders and protect our ideals"

From CNN's Tal Kopan and David Shortell

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speaks at a National Security Forum on Capitol Hill.
DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speaks at a National Security Forum on Capitol Hill.

Speaking at the National Security Forum on Capitol Hill hosted by a group of bipartisan lawmakers, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen addressed the President’s executive order yesterday, saying it was an attempt to not sacrifice American ideals in the name of law enforcement.

But she once again reiterated the administration wants to see Congress act. 

There was no follow-up question by Republican Rep. Mike McCaul, who is interviewing her. He turned to terrorism-related questions.

 “What the President did yesterday is make clear that what we don’t need to do as Americans is pit the enforcement of the law against our humanitarian ideas, we need to try to do both at the same time,” Nielsen said.

“Congress has the authority and responsibility to make the law of the land and fix the immigration system,” she continued. “We have done everything we can do in the executive branch to both secure our borders and protect our ideals … but we need Congress to act.”

11:32 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

There are 2,300 children separated from their parents. What will happen to them?

From CNN's Tal Kopan and Nicole Chavez

President Trump yesterday signed an executive order to keep more immigrant families together. But it doesn't address the more than 2,300 children already separated from their parents.

The US's sponsorship process — which finds friends, relatives or other suitable volunteers in the US for children in government custody — is built mainly for children who come to the US illegally alone. It does not include any procedures for proactively reuniting children with parents who brought them to the US and may be in government custody (though theoretically once released from custody a parent could apply to sponsor their child's release).

In short: We're not really sure when — or how — children in US custody will be reunited with their parents.

For now, hundreds of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents have been transferred thousands of miles away from the border.

While some are in shelters and facilities across Texas, others have been sent to places as far away as New York City.

Here are some of the states where they have been sent:

  • Michigan: Children as young as 3 months old have been transferred to facilities in Michigan, according to the state's department of civil rights. At least 81 children have arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, since April, CNN affiliate WXMI reported.
  • New York: A total of 350 migrant children, including a 9-month-old, have been taken to New York City since the practice of separating families began, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. At least 239 children are in the care of the Cayuga Centers in Harlem, which runs day programs for them. Some of the children are in foster care and some could be with relatives.
  • South Carolina: Five migrant children have arrived in South Carolina since last month. The children are ages 7 to 11 years old and most of them will be placed in foster care in the Columbia area, CNN affiliate WCIV reported.
9:47 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

These migrants are undeterred by Trump's zero-tolerance policy

In a sparsely furnished migrant shelter a few miles south of the border with McAllen, Texas, little Joan Flores ran around pretending to wear a bulletproof vest.

The fantasy game started in his native El Salvador, after the 7-year-old boy had seen members of a gang known as the "Exterminations" fatally shoot a man in the eye outside his family's home, according to his mother.

"My country is no place for children -- no place for my son," Patricia Flores, 27, said Wednesday. "I don't want him to grow up like that."

Here at the Senda de Vida (Path of Life) shelter, many of the 50 or so migrants contemplating their next moves seemed undeterred by a Trump administration zero tolerance policy that resulted in thousands of family separations.

"It's been too long a journey to give up now," said Flores, who has been at the shelter two weeks after having been turned away twice at the border bridge by US immigration authorities.

Read her story here.

9:26 a.m. ET, June 21, 2018

What's happening with immigration in Congress today, where two bills are headed towards failure

From CNN's Phil Mattingly

Trump, accompanied by House Speaker Paul Ryan, arrive for a meeting with Republican members of Congress on Tuesday.
Trump, accompanied by House Speaker Paul Ryan, arrive for a meeting with Republican members of Congress on Tuesday. ALEX EDELMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Today the House will vote on two broad immigration proposals: a proposal long backed by conservatives that takes a hard-line position on dealing with DACA, border security and cutting legal immigration, and a second negotiated by moderates, leadership and conservatives over the last few weeks.

The latter provides $25 billion for the border wall, and creates a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients through visa cuts to other elements of legal immigration, including eliminating the diversity visa lottery and limiting family visas. 

Leadership (and the Trump administration) has been whipping this bill hard over the last few days, meaning they want the votes to help it pass. They view it as the only bill that has a chance to pass.

But here's the thing: Barring some major shift in momentum, both of those proposals are headed toward failure. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but as of last night, the path forward wasn’t clear.

Despite an all-out blitz from the Trump administration — including personal, face-to-face entreaties from the President himself to skeptical House Republicans — to lock in the votes, there is still significant work to do to get one across the finish line, according to multiple senior aides and lawmakers. 

Bottom line: There will be a real-time, on the record display of President Trump’s lobbying sway on the House floor in a few hours. By all accounts Republicans enter the day still short of the votes. Here’s a simple frame of this day: Does the President have the juice to turn it around on his own?