President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday reversing his administration's policy of separating children from parents when found illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border—a move some associations saw as a step in the right direction but still not enough.

In recent days, a number of associations have issued statements decrying the policy as inhumane and running counter to American values. One of the harshest critics has been the American Academy of Pediatrics, which pointed to research indicating that separations can inflict lifelong psychological harm on parents and children.

Trump reversed the policy after facing severe political backlash. However, his executive order likely conflicts with a 1997 court ruling that children cannot be held in detention for more than 20 days, opening the possibility that child separations could resume in the future. The president has asked Congress to enact a legislative fix, but Congress appeared unlikely to pass such as bill as of Thursday.

In a statement, AAP board President Colleen Kraft said the real problem is the Trump administration has enacted a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal immigration that results in more children ending up in detention facilities. The order also fails to address the fate of more than 2,300 children already separated from their parents, she said.

"Family detention is not the solution to address the forced separation of children and parents at the U.S. southern border," Kraft said. "We urge our government to stop exposing children to conditions or settings that may retraumatize them, such as those that exist in immigration detention."

National Association of Manufacturers CEO Jay Timmons issued a statement Monday demanding an end to the forced separations. He released another statement following Trump's executive order saying manufacturers were relieved that Trump ended the practice. Still, he added the "heartbreaking separation of children and their families should never have been U.S. government policy. It was as unnecessary as it is unconscionable."

Timmons also called for Congress to turn "to the difficult, but long overdue, work of reforming our broken immigration system and do so in a way that stays true to our values and lives up to America's highest ideals."

The number of associations calling for an end to the child separation policy has grown in recent days. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Consumer Technology Association, ASAE and numerous health care groups are among the groups that have urged a stop to the practice. They were joined Wednesday by tech industry association TechNet and the National Recreation and Park Association, with the latter saying "we are concerned about the irreparable harm this action causes."

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