Biden said Trump-era family separations were 'abhorrent.' So why is DOJ fighting relief claims?

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The question from a Phoenix immigration supervisor came in on her BlackBerry: Should a parent and child apprehended at the border be separated? The response from Michelle Lee, an administrator with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arizona, came back in two minutes: yes.

That is among many inside details of the most controversial of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” efforts that are woven through recently unsealed court documents related to nearly 40 lawsuits filed against the government.

As one of his first actions in office, President Joe Biden followed through on a campaign promise when he vowed to end the “moral and national shame” of his predecessor’s immigration policies and halt the prosecution of parents for often minor immigration violations that were used to justify the separations.

Yet today, the Department of Justice is actively defending those very policies in court. By doing so, it in effect is asking families to decide whether reliving their pain is worth a potential payout. Families and their attorneys say they shouldn’t have to make that choice.

One mother separated from her children in 2018, who spoke to USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said she was disappointed that the U.S. government is fighting to deny them justice.