--- title: Read President Trump's Order on Family Separation description: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that would house parents and children caught crossing the border together. canonical: https://time.com/5317703/trump-family-separation-policy-executive-order/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-20T19:51:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:31:37.591Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's What President Trump's Immigration Order Actually Does og:description: Families will be housed together og:url: https://time.com/5317703/trump-family-separation-policy-executive-order/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a1d15a1689489b3/6989337e4ee262a2b6312262/facebook-fundraiser-raices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4011 og:image:height: 2256 og:image:alt: Border Patrol Agents Detain Migrants Near US-Mexico Border og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What President Trump's Immigration Order Actually Does twitter:description: Families will be housed together twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a1d15a1689489b3/6989337e4ee262a2b6312262/facebook-fundraiser-raices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What President Trump's Immigration Order Actually Does > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=0dbebb92-2050-4525-9900-f4fcd68cb840&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Signs Executive Order to Keep Immigrant Families Together [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Signs Executive Order to Keep Immigrant Families Together](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/q26Jygjj.m3u8) (0:34)  _Published 2018-06-20. In a sudden reversal, President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says will keep together immigrant families who have been detained at the U.S. border_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jun 20, 2018 7:51 PM UTC In a sudden reversal, President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says will keep together immigrant families who have been detained at the U.S. border by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jun 20, 2018 7:51 PM UTC President Donald Trump [signed an executive order](http://time.com/5317269/family-separation-policy-donald-trump-pause/) Wednesday that would house parents and children caught crossing the U.S. border together, [possibly on military bases](http://time.com/5317236/family-separation-policy-military-bases/), [instead of separating them](http://time.com/5314769/family-separation-policy-donald-trump/). Responding to heated criticism about his family separation policy, Trump [signed an order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/) modifying the plan after repeatedly — and inaccurately — saying he could not do so under existing law and blaming congressional Democrats for the practice. Trump’s executive order continues the “zero tolerance” approach of referring all people apprehended for criminal prosecution. But it says that instead of separating children and sending them to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, the families would be kept together under the Department of Homeland Security. “It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources,” it reads. One exception: The order says that children will not be kept with parents when there is concern that doing so “would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.” The order also says that the Department of Defense will work to provide “any existing facilities available” to house the families and construct new ones if necessary. Since family detention centers were barred by a legal decision known as the Flores settlement, the order also requires Attorney General Jeff Sessions to request that a U.S. District Court negotiate a modification to the settlement that will allow the new detention policy to be set in motion. You can read Trump’s entire immigration order below. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] Okay. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You're gonna have a [00:04] lot of happy people. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Thank [00:08] you again. Mr. President why did [00:12] you wait so long to sign [00:16] this? [ UNKNOWN ] This has been going [00:20] on for 60 years. 60 years nobody's [00:25] taken care of it. Nobody's had the political courage to [00:29] take care of it. But we're going to take care of it. It's [00:31] been going on. 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