President Trump just signed an executive order regarding the administration's policy of separating families once they've illegally crossed into the country. According to NBC, the order would allow for families to be held in immigration detention together.
Parents with children will also now be given precedence in immigration proceedings. The order will not end the "zero tolerance" policy, though it's unclear how that will play out in the future.
At the time of the signing, Trump said, "We are keeping families together and this will solve that problem... we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero tolerance, we have zero tolerance for people that enter our country illegally." He also said, "I didn't like sight or the feeling of families being separated. It's a problem that's gone on for many years, too many administrations."
The ACLU already responded to the possible order earlier on Wednesday, writing on Twitter: "An eleventh-hour executive order doesn't fix the harm done to thousands of children and their parents."
President Trump and his administration previously said that only Congress was able to stop the family separation. Thousands of children have been separated from their parents since the administration announced its zero-tolerance policy, and as of now, there is no clear plan on how those children would be reunited with their parents.
