Trump signs executive order to end immigrant family separations: What we know

President Donald Trump, facing a national outcry, signed an executive order Wednesday designed to keep migrant families together at the U.S.-Mexico border, abandoning his earlier claim that the crisis was caused by an iron-clad law and not a policy that he could reverse.

The order was drafted by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and directs her department to keep families together after they are detained crossing the border illegally.

“We are going to keep the families together. I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated," he said in signing the order.

"This will solve that problem," Trump declared.

Although the order says the "zero tolerance" prosecution policy will continue, contradicts Trump's statement last week that the problem of family separations could not be resolved by an executive order. He also suggested Wednesday that the move would be accompanied by efforts to pass immigration legislation.

Ryan says he has a legislative fix

It was not clear how the executive order would affect plans by House Speaker Paul Ryan to hold on a comprehensive immigration bill Thursday that would also address the emotional issue of family separation.

Ryan said the legislative fix would keep families together, under DHS custody, when they are being prosecuted for illegally crossing the border.

"We can enforce immigration laws without breaking families apart," Ryan, R-Wisc., said Wednesday. He said it was a "false choice" to suggest a need to pick between enforcing border security and keeping families together.

The measure to end the separation of migrant families would be part of a bill addressing broader immigration issues, including funding the president's border wall and protecting young immigrant “DREAMers,” who have been living in the U.S. illegally since childhood, from deportation.

Although Ryan says Trump supports the measure, it was unclear whether it could pass, and a more conservative bill seems even less likely to garner enough votes to pass.

American, United, Frontier reject flying separated kids 

American Airlines, United and Frontier have asked the federal government to refrain from using their airlines to transport children separated from their family under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. American said Wednesday that the Trump policy does not align with its company values. "We bring families together, not apart," American said in a statement. At United Airlines, CEO Oscar Munoz said that while he had not found any evidence that children separated from their parents had been flown on United aircraft, the company requested that federal officials not do so in the future. Frontier, in pulling out, said it "prides itself on being a family airline." Tyler Houlton, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, called the decisions by American, United and Frontier airlines "unfortunate." He said "(b)uckling to a false media narrative only exacerbates the problems at our border and puts more children at risk from traffickers."

Separate bill in the Senate

On the Senate side, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters after a closed-door Senate GOP lunch Tuesday: “We’ve got a problem, we need to fix it. And we’re going to work on that.”

Republicans are rallying behind narrow legislation proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would allow detained families to stay together in custody while expediting their hearings and possible deportation proceedings. McConnell says he is reaching out to Democrats for bipartisan backing.

With few legislative solutions in sight, opposition ranged from formal statements by politicians and public groups to vocal protesters confronting the head of the Department of Homeland Security at an upscale Washington, D.C., Mexican restaurant.

Trump: 'I am working on something.'

As prospects for a solution in Congress look grim, President Trump wrote on Twitter that he is "working on something" related to immigration following his night meeting with House Republicans. The president is again placing blame on Democrats, charging "they won't give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation." The president's party, the Republicans, control both chambers in Congress. "Republicans want security," he tweets. "But I am working on something - it never ends!"

Babies, young children sent to 'tender age' shelter 

Babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border are being sent to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas, according to The Associated Press. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described playrooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The shelters follow strict procedures surrounding who can gain access to the children in order to protect their safety, but that means information about their welfare can be limited. The three centers – in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville – have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5 years old. A fourth, planned for Houston, would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

American Medical Association: End the policy promptly

The largest U.S. doctors’ group, the American Medical Association, is urging the Trump administration to end the family separation policy on the border as quickly as possible. The AMA’s chief executive officer, James Madara, writes in a letter made public Wednesday that families seeking refuge in the U.S. “already endure emotional and physical stress” and that separation only makes it worse. Madara says it is well known that childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences created by inhumane treatment often create negative health impacts that can last a lifetime. Madara sent the letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It follows a new policy AMA adopted at its annual meeting last week in Chicago.

13 GOP senators call for pause in separation policy

At least 13 Republican senators have signed a letter drafted by Sen. Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Senate Republican, asking Homeland to pause the criminal prosecutions while lawmakers finish a proposal on the issue. "The way it's being handled right now isn't acceptable," Hatch said. While 13 have signed on, other Republicans made it clear they do not support any suspension of the prosecutions. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, says people coming into the country illegally should be prosecuted, but children should be allowed to stay with them in detention facilities.

5 Latin American human rights agencies weigh in

Human rights agencies in five Latin American nations are urging the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to push the United States to implement precautionary measures for avoiding the separation of migrant children from their families. The petition asks the commission to demand Washington take any actions necessary to protect family rights and personal integrity. It calls the separations “dangerous” and “inhumane.” It is signed by the governmental rights agencies of Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Ex-immigration chief: Some kids separated permanently 

The former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells NBC News that migrant parents separated from their children at the border are sometimes unable to relocate their child and remain permanently separated. John Sandweg, who was acting director of ICE under the Obama administration from 2013-2014, says of permanent separation: "It happens." His warning contradicts White House statements that the separation of women and children migrants under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy is only temporary. While a parent can quickly move from detention to deportation, a child's case for asylum or deportation may not be heard by a judge for several years because deporting a child is a lower priority for the courts, Sandweg explains.

Protesters confront DHS head at Mexican restaurant 

Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was confronted Tuesday evening by chanting protesters at an upscale Mexican restaurant where she was having dinner.  "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you're deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?" protester Jesse Rabinowitz shouts in a video posted on Facebook appearing to show the incident. According to the video, Nielsen appears not to acknowledge the intrusion at the glitzy MXDC Cocina Mexicana restaurant by the members of the D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Pope backs U.S. bishops' condemnation of border policy

Pope Francis says he supports the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' condemnation of the separations as against Catholic values. "It's not easy, but populism is not the solution," Francis tells Reuters in an exclusive interview published Wednesday. The publication of the pope's comments came on World Refugee Day. "Let it be clear that in these things, I respect (the position of) the bishops conference," Frances said in the interview. The pontiff also tweeted on the topic, saying: "A person's dignity does not depend on them being a citizen, a migrant, or a refugee. Saving the life of someone fleeing war and poverty is an act of humanity."

WPXI