CHARLOTTE, N.C. – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that stops the separation of families. It’s a big reversal by the president’s administration when it comes to illegal immigration following a bipartisan outcry.

• Vigil held to pray for families separated at the southern border
• President Trump signed an executive order that ended the policy
• The order does not reunite families already separated

A vigil got underway at Myers Park United Methodist Church Wednesday night where people prayed about the situation. Organizers say it's meant to show solidarity with the children being ripped away from their parents at the U.S.- Mexico border. It's a policy the Trump administration stuck to until Wednesday.

"By taking this action, the president will make it possible for us to continue to engage in enforcing the law against individuals who violate our law [and] come into our country illegally. But now, we'll be able, in that prosecution in the immediate days forward, to keep families together as that goes forward," Vice President Mike Pence said.

The executive order does that by allowing parents who are facing criminal charges for illegally crossing into the country to stay with their children in detention with the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, adults were being turned over to the Department of Justice.

Wednesday's order does not reunite families already separated. While vigil attendees were pleased to see the policy end, they worry about the unaccompanied, undocumented immigrant youth now out there all alone.

With thousands of families now needing housing, that executive order now instructs federal agencies, specifically the Department of Defense, to start preparing facilities that could be used for housing. The military would have no responsibilities.