PHOENIX — The number of migrant children separated at the border is climbing, despite the Trump administration's policy to end the practice, according to an attorney for an Arizona-based non-profit that provides lawyers for the children.
Laura Belous, an advocacy attorney for the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, says on this weekend's "Sunday Square Off" that her organization has tracked 35 children separated from parents at the Southwest border this year.
Belous also says she wasn't surprised by an NBC News report last week detailing allegations that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents retaliated against migrant children at a detention center in Yuma.
One of the children, a 15-year-old girl, alleged she was sexually assaulted by an officer during a pat down in front of other migrants and CBP agents.
Also on this weekend's "Square Off," our "Left/Right" panel of Julie Erfle, a Democratic communications consultant, and Barrett Marson, Republican consultant at Marson Media, discuss:
- Gov. Doug Ducey's flag-waving Twitter tantrum July 2 declared he's not "sucking up" to Nike. Nine days later, Ducey welcomed a Nike factory to Arizona. Why did Ducey flip-flop and will that hurt Arizona when he tries to lure other companies?
- A Mesa cop who shot an unarmed man was fired, rehired and then retired with a $30,000-a-year, tax-free pension for life. Did the city of Mesa do the right thing?
- Republicans' lawsuit to kill Obamacare -- endorsed by President Donald Trump -- was back in court last week. Should Republicans on the 2020 ballot, like Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, hope that courts keep Obamacare alive?
- Why does President Trump's nationwide deportation sweep skip Arizona?
- Can APS survive the steady drip of news that's raising questions about whether the electric-power monopoly puts customers' or its own interests first?
"Sunday Square Off" airs at 8 a.m. Sundays on 12 News, after "Meet the Press."