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((Short description|Policy intended to deter illegal immigration))
((pp-pc1))
((use mdy dates|date=October 2019))
((Use American English|date=October 2019))
[[File:Ursula (detention center) 1.png|thumb|right|[[Ursula detention facility]] in [[McAllen, Texas]], dated June 2018]]
[[File:Texas Photo 1.jpg|thumb|right|Juveniles, showing sleeping mats and thermal blankets on floor]]
((Donald Trump series))
The United States family separation policy under the [[Trump administration]] was presented to the public as a "[[zero tolerance]]" approach intended to [[immigration policy of Donald Trump|deter illegal immigration]] and to encourage tougher legislation.<ref name="lead ref 1"/> In some cases, families following the legal procedure to apply for asylum at official border crossings were also separated. It was officially adopted across the entire [[US–Mexico border]] from April 2018 until June 2018.<ref name="lead ref 2"/> Under the policy, federal authorities separated children and infants from parents or guardians with whom they had entered the US.<ref name="horwitz12"/><ref name="transcript">((cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-sen-susan-collins-on-face-the-nation-june-17-2018/|title=Transcript: Sen. Susan Collins on 'Face the Nation'|date=June 17, 2018|work=[[Face the Nation]]|access-date=June 17, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003070750/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-sen-susan-collins-on-face-the-nation-june-17-2018/|archive-date=October 3, 2019|publisher=[[CBS News]]))</ref><ref name=Everett/> The adults were prosecuted and held in federal jails or deported, and the children were placed under the supervision of the [[US Department of Health and Human Services]].<ref name="horwitz12"/> More than 5,500 children, including infants, were removed and up to 2,000 still have not been reunited as of March 2024.<ref>((Cite web |last=French |first=Piper |date=2024-02-27 |title=Will the Families Separated by Trump Ever Be Reunited? |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/separated-families-border-trump-zero-tolerance-immigration.html |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=Intelligencer |language=en))</ref><ref name="Shapiro et al. NPR">((cite web |title=Investigation reveals how government bureaucracy failed to stop family separations|first1=Ari|last1=Shapiro|first2=Lauren|last2=Hodges|first3=Christopher|last3=Intagliata|url=https://www.npr.org/2022/08/09/1116591045/investigation-reveals-how-government-bureaucracy-failed-to-stop-family-separatio |work=[[NPR]] |date=August 9, 2022 |access-date=August 14, 2022))</ref><ref>((cite web |last1=Narea |first1=Nicole |title=The Trump administration just admitted that it separated an additional 1,500 immigrant families |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/25/20931992/trump-administration-aclu-lawsuit-separate-families-immigrant-policy-1500 |website=Vox |date=October 25, 2019 |access-date=April 20, 2022))</ref><ref>((cite web|title=Family separation under the Trump administration—a timeline|url=https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/06/17/family-separation-under-trump-administration-timeline|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=June 19, 2020))</ref><ref name="npr">((cite web|title=Looking At Lasting Effects Of Trump's Family Separation Policy At The Southern Border|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/01/01/792916538/looking-at-lasting-effects-of-trumps-family-separation-policy-at-the-southern-bo|website=NPR|access-date=October 16, 2020))</ref>

By early June 2018, it emerged that the policy did not include measures to reunite the families that it had separated.<ref name=GoodwinTool/><ref name="KopanSpecificPlan"/> Following national and international criticism,<ref name="lead ref 3"/> on June 20, 2018, Trump signed an [[executive order]] ending family separations at the border.<ref name="lead ref 4"/> On June 26, 2018, US District Judge [[Dana Sabraw]] issued a nationwide [[preliminary injunction]] against the family separation policy and ordered that all children be reunited with their parents within thirty days.<ref name="FedJudgeInjunction" /><ref name="PrelimInjunctionText" /> In 2019, a release of emails obtained by [[NBC News]] revealed that although the administration had said that they would use the government's "central database" to reconnect the thousands of families that had been separated, the government had only enough information to reconnect sixty children with their parents.<ref>((cite news|last1=Soboroff|first1=Jacob|title=Emails show Trump admin had 'no way to link' separated migrant children to parents|publisher=[[NBC News]]|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/emails-show-trump-admin-had-no-way-link-separated-migrant-n1000746|access-date=May 8, 2019))</ref> By November 2020, the parents of 666 children still had not been found.<ref>((Cite news|first2=Julia|last2=Ainsley|first1=Jacob|last1=Soboroff|title=Lawyers say they can't find the parents of 545 migrant children separated by Trump administration |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/lawyers-can-t-find-parents-666-migrant-kids-higher-number-n1247144|access-date=2020-11-10|website=NBC News|language=en))</ref> The administration refused to provide funds to cover the expenses of reuniting families, and volunteer organizations provided both volunteers and funding.<ref name="PBS22oct20">((cite web |title=Why hundreds of migrant children remain separated from their parents |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-hundreds-of-migrant-children-remain-separated-from-their-parents#transcript |website=[[PBS NewsHour]] |date=October 21, 2020 |access-date=October 22, 2020))</ref><ref>((Cite news|first1=Julia|last1=Ainsley|first2=Jacob|last2=Soboroff|title=Lawyers: We can't find parents of 545 kids separated by Trump administration|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/lawyers-say-they-can-t-find-parents-545-migrant-children-n1244066|access-date=2020-10-21|website=NBC News|language=en))</ref><ref name="Dickerson"/>
 
The [[House Committee on Oversight and Reform]] reported in July 2019 that over 700 children had been separated from their parents after the policy's official end.<ref>((Citation|last=U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Oversight and Reform|title=Child Separations by the Trump Administration|date=July 2019|url=https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2019-07-2019.%20Immigrant%20Child%20Separations-%20Staff%20Report.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813090550/https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2019-07-2019.%20Immigrant%20Child%20Separations-%20Staff%20Report.pdf|archive-date=August 13, 2019|url-status=live))</ref> In July, it was reported that as many as five children per day were being separated,<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/12/migrant-children-are-still-being-separated-parents-data-show/|title=Family separations aren't over. As many as five kids per day are separated from their parents at the border.|last1=Roldan|first1=Riane|date=July 12, 2019|work=[[The Texas Tribune]]|access-date=July 18, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820162555/https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/12/migrant-children-are-still-being-separated-parents-data-show/|archive-date=August 20, 2019|last2=Rocha|first2=Alana|language=en))</ref> and by the end of the year, the total had reached over 1,100.<ref name="npr"/>

In January 2019, an investigation showed that the child separation policy had actually begun in the summer of 2017, prior to the zero tolerance policy announced in April 2018.<ref name=audit /> Federal officials said there were no plans to attempt to reunite these children because "it would destabilize the permanency of their existing home environment, and could be traumatic to the children."<ref name="auto">((cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-01-17/watchdog-many-more-migrant-families-may-have-been-separated|title=Watchdog: Thousands More Children May Have Been Separated|last1=Long|first1=Colleen|date=January 18, 2019|work=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|access-date=January 19, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119174405/https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-01-17/watchdog-many-more-migrant-families-may-have-been-separated|archive-date=January 19, 2019|agency=[[Associated Press]]|last2=Alonso-Zaldivar|first2=Ricardo))</ref><ref name="apunknown">((cite news|url=https://apnews.com/48210bbf243e423ea151ff04e4878ce6|title=US sees limitations on reuniting migrant families|last=Spagat|first=Elliot|date=February 3, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190204151227/https://apnews.com/48210bbf243e423ea151ff04e4878ce6|archive-date=February 4, 2019|work=[[Associated Press]]))</ref><ref name=ABCsteep/>

In June 2019, a group of attorneys with the [[Flores settlement]] visited a Border Patrol center in [[Clint, Texas|Clint]], [[Texas]]. The children told the lawyers that meals consisted of instant oatmeal, a cookie and sweetened drink for breakfast, instant noodles for lunch, and a heated frozen burrito and a cookie for dinner. They said they had not had a clean change of clothing or a bath for weeks. There were no adult caretakers; girls as young as ten were taking care of the younger ones.<ref name="APNews21Jun19">((cite news|url=https://www.apnews.com/46da2dbe04f54adbb875cfbc06bbc615|title=Attorneys: Texas border facility is neglecting migrant kids|last1=Attanasio|first1=Cedar|date=June 21, 2019|access-date=September 9, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191026205543/https://www.apnews.com/46da2dbe04f54adbb875cfbc06bbc615|archive-date=October 26, 2019|work=[[Associated Press]]|last2=Burke|first2=Garance|last3=Mendoza|first3=Martha))</ref><ref name="BBC27Jun19">((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48710432|title=Are US child migrant detainees entitled to soap and beds?|date=June 20, 2019|access-date=June 23, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627143238/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48710432|archive-date=June 27, 2019|work=[[BBC News]]))</ref><ref name="ChotinerNewYorker">((cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/inside-a-texas-building-where-the-government-is-holding-immigrant-children|title=Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children|last=Chotiner|first=Isaac|date=June 22, 2019|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|access-date=June 23, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190623071204/https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/inside-a-texas-building-where-the-government-is-holding-immigrant-children|archive-date=June 23, 2019))</ref>

== History ==
===Previous U.S. policy ===
Prior to the Trump administration, the United States did not routinely separate migrant parents from their children. Rather, previous administrations used either family detention facilities (allowing families to remain intact pending [[deportation]] hearings in civil [[immigration court]]) or alternatives to detention (e.g., release pending further hearings).<ref name=Robertson>((cite web|first=Lori|last=Robertson|url=https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/did-the-obama-administration-separate-families/|title=Did the Obama Administration Separate Families?|work=[[FactCheck.org]]|date=June 20, 2018))</ref><ref name=Tareen>((cite news|first=Sophie|last=Tareen|url=https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-caribbean-ap-top-news-julian-castro-immigration-2584b7cbfc4948cd9b828df0c1161a57|title=AP Explains: The law criminalizing improper border crossings|work=[[Associated Press]]|date=June 28, 2019))</ref> Prior to the Trump administration, families traveling together were generally only separated under narrow circumstances, such as suspicion of [[human trafficking]], an outstanding warrant, or fraud.<ref name=Robertson/><ref name=SnopesSeparation>((cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-trump-child-separation-meme/|title=Did President Obama Oversee the Separation of 89,000 Children from Their Parents?|last=MacGuill|first=Dan|date=June 29, 2018 |quote=immigration experts and former Homeland Security officials agree that the rate of child separation under Obama is likely nowhere close to what has been seen under Trump. Criminal prosecution for improperly crossing into the United States was the exception under the Obama administration.))</ref>

For decades, the government did not pursue criminal charges cases for [[illegal entry]], a misdemeanor offense.<ref name=Tareen /> But, in 2005, President [[George W. Bush]] launched [[Operation Streamline]], a program targeting a stretch of the U.S.–Mexico border that referred unlawful entrants for criminal prosecution and expedited their deportation.<ref name="DavisShear" /><ref name="Dickerson Separation">((cite news|magazine=[[The Atlantic (magazine)|The Atlantic]]|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/trump-administration-family-separation-policy-immigration/670604/|title="We need to take away children.": The secret history of the U.S. government's family-separation policy|first=Caitlin|last=Dickerson|date=August 7, 2022))</ref><ref name=Tareen /> But parents traveling with minor children were typically exempt from the policy.<ref name="Dickerson Separation"/><ref name="DavisShear" /> In 2006, Congress designated a single facility—the T. Don Hutto Residential Center—to house families together, and that facility opened in 2006.<ref name=nbc20150803>((cite news |title=The Failed Experiment of Immigrant Family Detention |first=Amanda |last=Sakuma |date=August 3, 2015 |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/failed-experiment-immigrant-family-detention-n403126 |access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

The Obama administration initially rejected family detention and shuttered the Hutto Center.<ref name=nbc20150803/> But, after the [[2014 American immigration crisis]], Obama assembled a multiagency team tasked with crafting new immigration policies.<ref name="DavisShear" /> This occasioned the first discussion of a family-separation policy, which was proposed by [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] official [[Thomas Homan]],<ref name="Dickerson Separation"/> though the proposal was quickly rejected.<ref name="DavisShear" /> Instead, the administration opted to expand the detention policy and built new family-detention facilities, meant to hold families indefinitely pending deportation.<ref name="DavisShear" /><ref name="Dickerson Separation"/> 

In 2016, the [[Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals]] ruled in ''[[Flores v. Lynch]]'' that, pursuant to a [[Reno v. Flores|1997 consent decree]], both unaccompanied and accompanied minors could only be held in detention for a short time<ref name=nyt20180614>((cite news |title=Republicans Misplace Blame for Splitting Families at the Border |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Linda |last=Qiu |date=June 14, 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/politics/fact-check-republicans-family-separations-border.html |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref>—roughly, 20 days.<ref name="DavisShear" /> The Obama administration complied with the order, and, facing intense criticism, it also reversed course on family detention, adopting new rules that took into account the interests of parents and re-focusing the detention policy on immigrants who had previously committed crimes in the United States.<ref>((cite news |last1=Jacobs |first1=Emma |title=When Immigration Detention Means Losing Your Kids|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/12/08/565426335/when-immigration-detention-means-losing-your-kids |publisher=[[NPR]] |work=[[Morning Edition]]|date=December 8, 2017))</ref> Few families were ever separated under the Obama administration,  and such families were generally quickly reunited once identified.<ref name="Kruzel">((Cite news|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/jun/19/matt-schlapp/no-donald-trumps-separation-immigrant-families-was/|title=No, Donald Trump's separation of immigrant families was not Barack Obama's policy|publisher=PolitiFact |first=John |last=Kruzel |date=June 19, 2018 |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> Unaccompanied children were kept in holding cells, separated by age and gender, while appropriate placements were found.<ref>((cite news |last1=Abedi |first1=Maham |title=Photos of immigrant children sleeping in cages in U.S. go viral—but they're from 2014 |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4238798/us-children-immigration-photo-2014-trump/ |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=[[Global News]] |date=29 May 2018 |language=en |quote=In this June 18, 2014 file photo, two female detainees sleep in a holding cell, as the children are separated by age group and gender, as hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center in Nogales, Ariz.))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Michael Kiefer |title=First peek: Immigrant children flood detention center |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2014/06/18/arizona-immigrant-children-holding-area-tour/10780449/ |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=[[The Arizona Republic]] |agency=Associated Press |date=9 December 2016 |language=en |quote=Detainees sleep and watch television in a holding cell on June 18, 2014. They are among hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center.))</ref>

=== Trump administration ===

((See also|Trump administration migrant detentions))
[[File:Thomas D. Homan (cropped).jpg|thumb|Thomas Homan]]
While running for president in 2016, candidate [[Donald Trump]] said ending "[[Catch and release (immigration)|catch and release]]" was the second of his two priorities for immigration reform, after walling off Mexico.<ref>((cite news |title=Transcript: Donald Trump's full immigration speech, annotated |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 31, 2016|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-donald-trump-immigration-speech-transcript-20160831-snap-htmlstory.html |access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |website=[[Politico]] |title=Full text: Donald Trump immigration speech in Arizona |date=August 31, 2016 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-transcript-227614))</ref> After taking office in January 2017, Trump demoted [[Daniel Ragsdale]] as director of ICE and replaced him with Thomas Homan, who had long advocated for the separation of children from their families as a means of deterring illegal immigration. While Homan's ideas had previously been dismissed, they were well received within the Trump administration. The journalist [[Caitlin Dickerson]] described Homan as the "intellectual father" of child separation, based on her Pulitzer-prize winning investigation into the policy.<ref name="Dickerson Separation" /> 
[[File:Stephen Miller by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|upright|Trump Senior Advisor Stephen Miller]]

When the administration began separating families, pro-Trump pundits argued that the administration was implementing the same policy as the Obama administration. According to [[PolitiFact]], the assertion that Trump was implementing the same policy as Obama is "false", noting "Obama's immigration policy specifically sought to avoid breaking up families. While some children were separated from their parents under Obama, this was relatively rare and families were quickly reunited even if that meant the release of a parent from detention."<ref name="Kruzel"/> The Obama Administration did consider separating families, but decided against it.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-behind-family-separation-at-the-border-question-and-answer-1529345730|title=What's Behind Family Separation at the Border?: Question and Answer|last1=Caldwell|first1=Alicia A.|last2=Frosch|first2=Dan|date=June 18, 2018|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== Role of Stephen Miller ====

Trump's senior adviser [[Stephen Miller (political advisor)|Stephen Miller]] was a driving force behind the Trump administration's family separation policy.<ref>((cite news |last1=Bellware |first1=Kim |title=Leaked Stephen Miller emails show Trump's point man on immigration promoted white nationalism, SPLC reports |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/12/leaked-stephen-miller-emails-suggest-trumps-point-man-immigration-promoted-white-nationalism/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 23, 2019))</ref><ref>((cite web |last1=Lamarque |first1=Kevin |title=The Outrage Over Family Separation Is Exactly What Stephen Miller Wants |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/stephen-miller-family-separation/563132/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=December 24, 2019|date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref name="DavisShear"/><ref name="NYT-2018-06-18">((cite news|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|last2=Benner|first2=Katie|date=June 18, 2018|title=How Anti-Immigration Passion Was Inflamed From the Fringe|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/us/politics/immigration-children-sessions-miller.html|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref><ref>((Cite web|title=White House nixed deal to pay for mental health care for separated families|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/white-house-killed-deal-pay-mental-health-care-migrant-families-n1248158|access-date=2020-11-20|website=NBC News|date=November 19, 2020 |language=en))</ref> NBC News reported that officials in attendance of a meeting of senior advisers said that "Miller warned that not enforcing the administration's zero tolerance immigration policy 'is the end of our country as we know it' and that opposing it would be un-American."<ref>((cite web |last1=Gamboa |first1=Suzanne |title='White supremacy' was behind child separations—and Trump officials went along, critics say |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/white-supremacy-was-behind-child-separations-trump-officials-went-along-n1237746 |website=NBC News |date=August 22, 2020 |access-date=January 14, 2021))</ref>

==== Refusal to accept asylum seekers at border crossings ====

In January 2017, the [[American Immigration Council]] and five other advocacy organizations filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties protesting the "systemic denial of entry to asylum seekers". It is not legal for the US to deny anyone the right to seek asylum. Nonetheless, according to advocacy lawyers, asylum seekers presenting at [[List of Mexico–United States border crossings|border crossings]] were denied for a variety of reasons, including "the daily quota has been reached", that they needed to present a [[travel visa|visa]], or that they needed to schedule an appointment through Mexican authorities, none of which are accurate. One nonprofit organization spokesperson commented, "We've basically arrived at a place where applying for asylum is not available to most people."<ref>((cite news |last1=Partlow |first1=Joshua |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-border-officials-are-illegally-turning-away-asylum-seekers-critics-say/2017/01/16/f7f5c54a-c6d0-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html |title=U.S. border officials are illegally turning away asylum seekers, critics say |newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |author=Dara Lind|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/5/17428640/border-families-asylum-illegal|title=Trump keeps making it harder for people to seek asylum legally|publisher=Vox|date=June 5, 2018|access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General concluded that this practice, which it calls "metering" legal entry "leads some aliens who would otherwise seek legal entry into the United States to cross the border illegally".<ref>((Cite conference|last=U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Office of the Inspector General|date=2018-09-27|title=Special Review—Initial Observations Regarding Family Separation Issues Under the Zero Tolerance Policy|location=Washington, DC|pages=6–8))</ref>

The administration also cancelled the [[Central American Minors Program]] (CAM) which had given the hope to parents that they would be able to bring their child into the US legally—ending the parole portion of the program in August 2017 and no longer accepting new applications for the refugee portion of the program as of November 9, 2017.<ref name="ucsis-cam">((Cite news|url=https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/humanitarian-parole/central-american-minors-cam-information-parole-applicants|title=Central American Minors (CAM): Information for Parole Applicants|publisher=UCSIS|access-date=July 13, 2018))</ref> The CAM program had allowed some parents to bring their children legally to the US since 2015, with the children gaining the right to apply for citizenship if they were granted special refugee status. Due to the processing delays, the program had not offered relief for those who faced the threat of immediate danger, yet at the level of the individual families it had made it less attractive to bring children illegally, as there was the prospect of legal entry.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/17/central-american-minors-program-children-immigration|title=Central American migrant program reunites first teens with families in US|newspaper=The Guardian|date=November 17, 2015|access-date=July 13, 2018))</ref>

On July 15, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice announced an Interim Final Rule to take effect on July 16 that would rule foreigners who cross the US–Mexico border ineligible for asylum if they had not previously applied for asylum in countries they had traveled through, effectively barring asylum claims on the border from nationals of Central America and Cuba.<ref name="Gurman2019">((Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-prepares-new-rule-for-asylum-seekers-at-southern-border-11563195494|title=Trump Administration Plans Tighter Asylum Rules at Southern Border|last=Gurman|first=Sadie|date=2019-07-15|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=2019-07-15|issn=0099-9660))</ref><ref name="Miroff2019">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-administration-moves-to-restrict-asylum-access-aiming-to-curb-central-american-migration/2019/07/15/f3360576-a704-11e9-9214-246e594de5d5_story.html|title=Trump administration moves to restrict asylum access, aiming to curb Central American migration|last1=Miroff|first1=Nick|date=2019-07-15|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2019-07-15|last2=Kim|first2=Seung Min|issn=0190-8286))</ref> The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) immediately challenged the rule.<ref name="Gurman2019" /><ref name="Miroff2019" /> On July 24, 2019, Judge [[Timothy J. Kelly]] of the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia|U.S. District Court for the District Court for the District of Columbia]] upheld the new rule, but on that same day Judge [[Jon S. Tigar|Jon Tigar]] of the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California]] issued a [[preliminary injunction]] blocking enforcement of Trump's attempt to bar asylum-seekers, pending the resolution of the case.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/asylum-ruling-tro.html|title=Trump's Latest Attempt to Bar Asylum Seekers Is Blocked After a Day of Dueling Rulings|first1=Miriam|last1=Jordan|first2=Zolan|last2=Kanno-Youngs|date=July 24, 2019|work=[[The New York Times]]))</ref> After some back-and-forth rulings on whether this hold applied nationwide, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] struck down the hold on September 11, 2019, while the legal challenge to the policy was pending; Justices [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] and [[Sonia Sotomayor]] dissented from the ruling.<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.apnews.com/a817cf3affb04f3d8ad3c4940366a5fe |title=Supreme Court allows broad enforcement of Trump asylum rule|first=Mark |last=Sherman |date=September 12, 2019|work=Associated Press))</ref>

==== DHS "pilot programs" in Yuma and El Paso (2017)====
Beginning in May 2017, the Trump administration directed [[U.S. Border Patrol]] agents in the [[Yuma, Arizona]] Border Patrol Sector to start prosecuting first-time border crossers and separating migrant parents from their children, including children as young as ten months old.<ref name=Sieff>Kevin Sieff, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/09/trump-separated-families-yuma-2017/ The Trump administration used an early, unreported program to separate migrant families along a remote stretch of the border], ''Washington Post'' (July 9, 2021).</ref> From July 1 to December 31, 2017, a total of 234 families were separated in the Yuma sector.<ref name=Sieff/> An additional, unknown number of families were likely separated in May and June 2017.<ref name=Sieff/> These family separations were not publicly reported at the time.<ref name=Sieff/> Some families separated by U.S. authorities in the Yuma sector remained apart from their children in 2021, four years later, and some separated family members were deported solo and could not be found.<ref name=Sieff/>

A separate family-separation program was run in the El Paso Border Patrol Sector.<ref name=Sieff/> From May to October 2017, the Trump administration ran what the DHS called a "pilot program" for zero tolerance in El Paso. Families were separated, including families that were seeking asylum, and children were then reclassified as "unaccompanied" and sent into a network of shelters with no system created to reunite them with their parents.<ref name="Seville">((cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-ran-pilot-program-separating-migrant-families-2017-n887616|title=Trump admin ran 'pilot program' for separating migrant families in 2017|last1=Seville|first1=Lisa Riordan|date=June 29, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180925014038/https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-ran-pilot-program-separating-migrant-families-2017-n887616|archive-date=September 25, 2018|work=[[NBC News]]|last2=Rappleye|first2=Hannah))</ref> The existence of this early "pilot program" in El Paso first became widely known in June 2018, with reporting by [[NBC News]] from information provided by DHS.<ref name="KopanSpecificPlan">((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/politics/family-separations-reunification-never-plan-court/index.html|title=Government never had specific plan to reunify families, court testimony shows|last=Kopan|first=Tal|date=June 29, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306042050/https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/politics/family-separations-reunification-never-plan-court/index.html|archive-date=March 6, 2019|publisher=[[CNN]]))</ref> In 2021, the ''Washington Post'' reported on newly revealed government data revealing the existence of the Yuma program, demonstrating that the Trump administration started to separate migrant families months earlier than previously known.<ref name=Sieff/>

In May 2018, [[NPR]] spoke with a director at The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, an agency that advocates for the children's best interests. Asked if staff had noticed an increase in children coming in with parents and then separated from them at the border, the director told NPR, "We noticed as early as late spring of 2017, and through the winter and now the spring of this year, we have seen a significant number of children referred to us for the appointment of a child advocate for kids taken from their parents at the border."<ref name=":0" />

According to an April 2018 memo obtained by ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the government viewed the El Paso experiment as successful in that it showed a 64 percent drop in apprehensions while apprehensions began to rise in October when it was paused. According to a Border Patrol report on the initiative, the El Paso sector processed approximately 1,800 individuals in families and 281 individuals in families were separated under this initiative.<ref>[https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696788.pdf "Unaccompanied Children: Agency Efforts to Identify and Reunify Children Separated from Parents at the Border"], GAO (February 7, 2019).</ref> This "experiment" was eventually used by ICE, CBP, and [[United States Citizenship and Immigration Services|CIS]] to launch the zero-tolerance program across the entire Southwest border in April.<ref name="Seville"/>

==== Proposals of family separation as a means to deter immigration ====

Two weeks after Trump was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2017, the administration reviewed the idea of separating immigrant children from their mothers as a way to deter asylum-seekers.<ref name="Ainsley March 3, 2017">((cite news |last1=Ainsley |first1=Julia |title=Exclusive: Trump administration considering separating women, children at Mexico border |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children-idUSKBN16A2ES |work=Reuters |date=March 3, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref><ref name="Ainsley June 19, 2018">((cite news |last1=Ainsley |first1=Julia |title=Trump admin discussed separating moms, kids to deter asylum-seekers in Feb. 2017 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-discussed-separating-moms-kids-deter-asylum-seekers-feb-n884371 |work=[[NBC News]] |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> In March 2017, it was first reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was considering a proposal to separate parents from their children if they were caught attempting to cross the border into the United States.<ref name="Ainsley March 3, 2017"/><ref name="Mallonee March 3, 2017">((cite news |last1=Mallonee |first1=Mary |title=DHS considering proposal to separate children from adults at border |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/03/politics/dhs-children-adults-border/ |work=CNN|date=March 3, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2018 |quote=Fresco also said the impetus for the change is the Flores v. Lynch court case, which held that the government is required to release minors from detention expeditiously even if they are accompanied by their parents, not just if they're unaccompanied))</ref>

[[John F. Kelly|John Kelly]], then [[Secretary of Homeland Security]], confirmed that the policy was under consideration,<ref name=":0">((Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/05/28/615010170/how-the-trump-administrations-family-separation-policy-is-playing-out|title=How The Trump Administration's Family Separation Policy Is Playing Out|date=May 28, 2018|publisher=NPR|access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Diaz |first1=Daniella |title=Kelly: DHS is considering separating undocumented children from their parents at the border |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/john-kelly-separating-children-from-parents-immigration-border/index.html |work=CNN|date=March 6, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref> but later denied it.<ref>((cite news |last1=Kopan |first1=Tal |title=Kelly says DHS won't separate families at the border |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/politics/border-families-separation-kelly/index.html |work=CNN|date=March 29, 2017))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Hesson |first1=Ted |last2=Kim |first2=Seung Min |title=Wary Democrats look to Kelly for answers on immigration |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/wary-dems-look-to-kelly-for-answers-on-immigration-236673 |work=Politico |date=March 29, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref> Speaking on ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' the director of the [[National Immigration Law Center]] said that the policy, if implemented, would amount "to state-sanctioned violence against children, against families that are coming to the United States to seek safety" and that the administration did not act with [[Transparency (behavior)|transparency]] in explaining what was being proposed.<ref>((cite news|title=Advocate: DHS Proposal to Split Children from Parents at U.S. Border is "State-Sanctioned Violence" |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/6/advocate_dhs_proposal_to_split_children |work=Democracy Now |access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref>

The [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] issued a statement to address media reports of the plan, "We urge policymakers to always be mindful that these are vulnerable, scared children", and they offered to assist Homeland Security in "crafting immigration procedures that protect children".<ref name="auto1">((cite web|url=https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/immigrantmotherschildrenseparation.aspx|title=AAP Statement Opposing Separation of Mothers and Children at the Border|date=March 4, 2017|publisher=[[American Academy of Pediatrics]]|access-date=June 17, 2018|archive-date=March 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301051118/https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/immigrantmotherschildrenseparation.aspx|url-status=dead))</ref> In March, more than a month prior to the official "zero tolerance" decision, the [[ACLU]] filed a [[class-action lawsuit]] against the Trump administration charging that the administration was illegally separating hundreds of children from their parents while the parents awaited asylum proceedings.<ref>((cite news |title=ACLU class action lawsuit seeks to block immigrant family separations |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/09/politics/aclu-lawsuit-separating-immigrant-families/index.html |work=CNN|access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref>

On April 5, the DHS said they were no longer considering the policy partly due to the steep decline in mothers attempting to travel to the US with their children;<ref>((cite news |last1=Ainsley |first1=Julia |title=Trump administration says no longer considering separating women |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-kelly-idUSKBN1771VW |work=Reuters |date=April 5, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref> however, Attorney General Jeff Sessions then ordered an escalation of federal prosecutions. Parents were being charged with misdemeanors and jailed while their children were classed as unaccompanied and placed under DHS care. Within five months, hundreds of children were reported to have been separated from their parents.<ref>((cite news |last1=Kriel |first1=Lomi |title=Trump moves to end 'catch and release', prosecuting parents and removing children who cross border |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Trump-moves-to-end-catch-and-release-12383666.php |work=Houston Chronicle |date=November 25, 2017))</ref> In late April 2018, the media reported that a review of government data found that about 700 migrant children, more than 100 of them under the age of 4, had been taken from their parents since October 2017. At that time Department of Homeland Security officials said they did not split families to deter immigration but rather to "protect the best interests of minor children crossing our borders".<ref name="autogenerated3">((cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/opinions/taken-from-their-parents-there-is-nothing-right-about-this-reyes/index.html|title=Taken from their parents: There is nothing right about this|last1=Reyes|first1=Raul|access-date=June 17, 2018|publisher=CNN))</ref> Saying it would save $12 million a year, in June the Trump administration ended the Family Case Management Program, which kept asylum-seeking mothers and their children out of detention.<ref name="autogenerated4">((cite news |last1=Kopan |first1=Tal |title=Trump admin ending program for mothers, children seeking asylum |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/trump-admin-ending-women-children-asylum-program/index.html |work=CNN|date=June 12, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref>

By December, after a new surge in families crossing the southern border, the DHS was again considering the policy to separate children from parents.<ref>((cite news |last1=Miroff |first1=Nick |title=To curb illegal border crossings, Trump administration weighs separating kids from parents |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-immigrants-parents-children-20171221-story.html |access-date=June 18, 2018 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=December 21, 2017))</ref> In January 2018, following testimony from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in which she refused to rule out implementing the proposed policy of the separation of parents from their children, more than 200 child welfare organizations released a letter calling for the Trump administration to abandon plans to forcibly separate children from their parents at the US border. The letter said, in part: "We know that this policy would have significant and long-lasting consequences for the safety, health, development, and well-being of children. Children need to be cared for by their parents to be safe and healthy, to grow and develop. Forced separation disrupts the parent-child relationship and puts children at increased risk for both physical and mental illness. The Administration's plan would eviscerate the principle of family unity and put children in harm's way."<ref name="auto2">((cite web|url=https://www.theyoungcenter.org/stories/2018/1/16/experts-oppose-plans-to-take-children-from-parents-at-border|title=More Than 200 Experts in Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice Oppose Government Plans to Take Children From Parents at Border|date=January 23, 2018 |publisher=Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== Administration issues "zero-tolerance" policy ====

[[File:Jeff Sessions, official portrait.jpg|thumb|Jeff Sessions]]

On April 6, 2018, [[Attorney General of the United States|Attorney General]] [[Jeff Sessions]] directed federal prosecutors "to adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses" related to the misdemeanor of improper entry into the United States, and that this "zero-tolerance policy shall supersede any existing policies". This would aim to criminally convict first-time offenders when historically they would face civil and administrative removal, while criminal convictions were usually reserved for those who committed the felony of illegal re-entry after removal.<ref>((cite news |last1=Farivar |first1=Masood |title=Sessions Announces 'Zero-Tolerance' Policy on Illegal Border Crossings |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/jeff-sessions-zero-tolerance-policy-illegal-entry-us/4336134.html |publisher=[[Voice of America]] |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |title=Did President Trump Order Detained Immigrants to Wear Yellow Bracelets? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bracelets-immigrants-operation-streamline/ |website=[[Snopes]] |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> On May 7, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced:
((blockquote|If you cross the border unlawfully((nbs))... then we will prosecute you. If you smuggle an illegal alien across the border, then we'll prosecute you.((nbs))... If you're smuggling a child, then we're going to prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you, probably, as required by law.<ref name="horwitz12" /><ref>((cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks-discussing-immigration-enforcement-actions|title=Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks Discussing the Immigration Enforcement Actions of the Trump Administration|date=May 7, 2018|publisher=United States Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs))</ref>))

Multiple media accounts, as well as direct testimony from detained migrants to members of Congress, reported that immigrant families lawfully presenting themselves at ports of entry seeking asylum were also being separated.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-port-of-entry-separations-20180701-story.html#|title=The Trump administration says it's a 'myth' that families that ask for asylum at ports of entry are separated. It happens frequently, records show|last=Esquivel|first=Paloma and Brittny Mejia|date=1 July 2018|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=19 August 2018))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/05/migrants-seeking-asylum-legally-ports-entry-turned-away-separated-fami/|title=The Trump administration is not keeping its promises to asylum seekers who come to ports of entry|last=Tribune|first=The Texas|date=2018-07-05|work=The Texas Tribune|access-date=2018-08-19|language=en))</ref><ref name="Everett">((Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/17/children-separated-border-flake-collins-650779|title=GOP senators demand details from Trump administration about separated families|last=Everett|first=Burgess|date=June 17, 2018|work=[[Politico]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210235907/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/17/children-separated-border-flake-collins-650779|archive-date=February 10, 2019|quote=...((nbs))'a number of media outlets have reported instances where parents and children seeking asylum at a port of entry have been separated,' the two senators wrote. 'These accounts and others like them concern us.' Flake and Collins cited a ''Washington Post'' story about a Honduran woman seeking asylum being separated from her child in Texas and a case in California in which a Congolese woman was separated from her daughter for months.))</ref> Speaking on [[Face the Nation]] on June 17, Senator [[Susan Collins]] said that the Secretary of Homeland Security [[Kirstjen Nielsen]] had testified before the Senate that asylum seekers with families would not be separated if they presented themselves at a legal port of entry, "Yet, there are numerous credible media accounts showing that exactly that is happening, and the administration needs to put an end to that right off."<ref name="transcript" /> Later in the day Nielsen tweeted: "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period."<ref>((cite news |title=Homeland Security chief denies Trump administration policy of ripping kids from their parents at the nation's border |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-children-immigrant-conway-bannon-20180617-story.html|newspaper=New York Daily News))</ref>

The departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Homeland Security did not take steps in advance of the April 2018 announcement to plan for family separations or a potential increase in the number of children who would be referred to HHS' [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]] (ORR) because they did not have advance notice of the announcement, according to agency officials interviewed by the Government Accountability Office. Though they did not receive advance notice of the April 2018 announcement, ORR officials said they were aware that increased separations of parents and children were occurring prior to the April announcement, saying the percentage of children referred to the agency who were known to have been separated from their parents rose by more than tenfold from November 2016 to August 2017.<ref>((cite web |title=Unaccompanied Children: Agency Efforts to Identify and Reunify Children Separated from Parents at the Border |url=https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696788.pdf/ |publisher=[[GAO]] |access-date=February 8, 2019 |archive-date=February 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207173904/https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696788.pdf |url-status=dead ))</ref>
[[File:Protest against child detention outside Border Patrol facility in Clint Texas 27 JUN 19 6.jpg|thumb|Protest against child detention outside Border Patrol facility in Clint Texas on June 27, 2019]]

The policy was notably unpopular, more so than any other major bill or executive action at that time.<ref name=Sides>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/06/19/the-extraordinary-unpopularity-of-trumps-family-separation-policy-in-one-graph/|title=The extraordinary unpopularity of Trump's family separation policy (in one graph)|author1-link=John M. Sides |last=Sides |first=John|date=June 19, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Poll aggregates showed that approximately 25 percent of Americans supported the policy, although a majority of Republicans supported it.<ref name=Sides/><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/18/17475740/family-separation-poll-polling-border-trump-children-immigrant-families-parents|title=Polls: Trump's family separation policy is very unpopular—except among Republicans|publisher=Vox |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>
Following the May announcement, dozens of protest demonstrations were held, attracting thousands. In Washington, D.C., [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] members of Congress marched in protest.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/protest-marches-family-separation.html|title=Marches Across the U.S. Protest Separation of Migrant Families|last1=Arango|first1=Tim|date=June 14, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 15, 2018|last2=Cockrel|first2=Kayla))</ref> The [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]] called for the Trump administration to "immediately halt" its policy of separating children from their parents,<ref name="nytimes1">((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/world/americas/us-un-migrant-children-families.html|title=Taking Migrant Children From Parents Is Illegal, U.N. Tells U.S.|work=The New York Times |date=June 5, 2018 |access-date=June 15, 2018|last1=Cumming-Bruce |first1=Nick ))</ref><ref name="press1">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/un-calls-on-us-to-halt-separations-of-migrant-families/2018/06/05/3fca8a12-68a7-11e8-a335-c4503d041eaf_story.html|title=UN office calls on US to stop separating families at border|agency=Associated Press|date=June 5, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 15, 2018|archive-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614165159/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/un-calls-on-us-to-halt-separations-of-migrant-families/2018/06/05/3fca8a12-68a7-11e8-a335-c4503d041eaf_story.html|url-status=dead))</ref> and human rights activists criticized that the policy, insofar as it is also applied to asylum seekers, defied Article 31 of the [[Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees|Refugee Convention]].<ref name="texasmonthly-2018-06-15">((cite magazine |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/whats-really-happening-asylum-seeking-families-separated/|title=What's Really Happening When Asylum-Seeking Families Are Separated?|last=Vine|first=Katy|date=June 15, 2018|magazine=Texas Monthly|access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref>

From January 2018 to June 2018, the civil rights office of the Department of Homeland Security received 850 complaints regarding family separations, most of which came from a fellow federal government agency, the ORR. Over 100 complaints predated the "zero tolerance" policy.<ref>((cite news|last1=Alvarez |first1=Priscilla |title=Exclusive: On family separations, one arm of the Trump administration raised hundreds of red flags to another |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/25/politics/family-separation-documents/index.html |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=July 27, 2019 |date=June 25, 2019))</ref>

==== Zero-tolerance policy reversed ====

Despite previously asserting that "You can't [reverse the policy] through an executive order",<ref>((cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-signs-executive-order-immigrant-families/story?id=56029396|title=Trump signs executive order he says will keep immigrant families together|date=June 20, 2018|work=ABC News|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> on June 20, 2018, Trump bowed to intense political pressure and signed an executive order to reverse the policy<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html|title=Trump Retreats on Separating Families, Signing Order to Detain Them Together|newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 20, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2018|last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Goodnough |first2=Abby |last3=Haberman |first3=Maggie ))</ref> while still maintaining "zero tolerance" border control by detaining entire families together.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://truthout.org/articles/trump-ends-family-separations-by-detaining-whole-families-indefinitely/|title=Trump Ends Family Separations by Detaining Whole Families Indefinitely|publisher=Truthout|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref><ref name=WarnerEtAl2018>((cite news|vauthors=Wagner M, Rocha V, Ries B, Wills A|title=What's Happening at the US Border? |url=https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/immigration-border-children-separation/h_736e0a322bf643474f887e8077d1454b|date=June 22, 2018|access-date=June 26, 2018|publisher=[[CNN]]))</ref><ref name=GAO2019>((cite web|url=https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696788.pdf|title=Unaccompanied Children: Agency Efforts to Identify and Reunify Children Separated from Parents at the Border|publisher=www.gao.gov|access-date=February 8, 2019))</ref> Asked by a reporter why he had taken so long to sign the order, Trump asserted, "It's been going on for sixty years. Sixty years. Nobody has taken care of it. Nobody has had the political courage to take care of it. But we're going to take care of it."<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peqGADGB_Eg&t=180|title=Trump signs executive order to end family separations|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=June 20, 2018 |via=YouTube |access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-signing-executive-order-affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|title=Remarks by President Trump and Vice President Pence at Signing of Executive Order Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref> The Trump administration said that they would use the government's "central database" to reconnect the thousands of families that had been separated. However, with the release of emails obtained by [[NBC News]] in 2019 it was discovered that there was no central database and the government had only enough information to reconnect sixty children with their parents.<ref>((cite news |last1=Soboroff |first1=Jacob |title=Emails show Trump admin had 'no way to link' separated migrant children to parents |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/emails-show-trump-admin-had-no-way-link-separated-migrant-n1000746 |work=[[NBC News]] |access-date=May 8, 2019))</ref>

When it became clear that "zero tolerance" could not be sustained while keeping families together within the scope of court rulings, [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection|Customs and Border Protection]] Commissioner [[Kevin McAleenan]] announced on June 25 that the agency would cease referring every person caught crossing the border illegally for prosecution, effectively ending the "zero tolerance" policy.<ref name="Burnett2018">((cite news |last1=Burnett |first1=John |title=Overwhelmed Customs And Border Protection Halts 'Zero Tolerance' For Migrants |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/06/26/623451388/trumps-zero-tolerance-policy-overwhelms-border-agents |access-date=June 26, 2018 |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=June 26, 2018))</ref> Implementing "zero tolerance" was a "huge challenge operationally for our agents", McAleenan said: Border Patrol stations were being overwhelmed by the number of children being held in crowded conditions in holding cells while their parents were processed in court and held in immigration detention, and agents were spending more time processing detained immigrants than guarding the border.<ref name="Burnett2018"/>

On June 26, a Federal Court ordered the government to reunify separated families with children under age five within fourteen days of the order, and families with minor children age five and over within thirty days of the order.<ref name=GAO2019/> On September 20, 2018, the government reported to the court that it had reunified or otherwise released 2,167 of the 2,551 children over five who had been separated from a parent and deemed eligible for reunification by the Government.<ref>((Cite conference|last=U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Office of the Inspector General.|date=2018-09-27|title=Special Review—Initial Observations Regarding Family Separation Issues Under the Zero Tolerance Policy|url=https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2018-10/OIG-18-84-Sep18.pdf|location=Washington, DC))</ref> However, a report released in January 2019 revealed that while HHS had previously said that the total number of children separated from their parents was less than 3,000, a new investigation revealed that the actual number of separated children was several thousand higher, with the exact number unknown due to poor record keeping. HHS officials had noticed a "steep increase" in separated children from the summer 2017.<ref name="apunknown"/><ref name="auto"/><ref name="ABCsteep">((cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-unsure-thousands-migrant-families-separated-originally/story?id=60797633|title=Trump administration admits thousands more migrant families may have been separated than estimated|last1=Pearle|first1=Lauren|date=February 4, 2019|access-date=July 27, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191026205314/https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-unsure-thousands-migrant-families-separated-originally/story?id=60797633|archive-date=October 26, 2019|work=[[ABC News]]))</ref>

== Continued separations and controversial facility conditions ==

((See also|Trump administration migrant detentions))
[[File:Overcrowded Families in Weslaco Station-11Jun2019-DHS OIG.png|thumb|right|Overcrowded conditions for migrant families detained in [[Weslaco, Texas]] were reported by inspectors from the federal government in June 2019.<ref name=OIGjuly2019>((cite web|title=Management Alert—DHS Needs to Address Dangerous Overcrowding and Prolonged Detention of Children and Adults in the Rio Grande Valley (Redacted)|url=https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-07/OIG-19-51-Jul19_.pdf|publisher=[[Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General]]|access-date=July 13, 2019|date=July 2, 2019))</ref>]]

=== Congressional hearings ===

In January 2019, the congressional Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee announced that they will hold hearings "to assess the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) preparation and response to
the Family Separation Policy, its chaotic efforts to reunify children with their families, and the long-term effects of separation on the health and wellbeing of these children".<ref>((cite web |last1=Hearing Announcement |title=Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Announces Hearing on Family Separation |url=https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Hearing%20Announcement%20Family%20Separation_0.pdf |access-date=March 11, 2019 |archive-date=September 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904184821/https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Hearing%20Announcement%20Family%20Separation_0.pdf |url-status=dead ))</ref>

In February 2019, the House held the first of three planned hearings to bring renewed scrutiny to the events and effects surrounding the Trump zero tolerance policy.<ref>((cite news |last1=Barajas |first1=Joshua |title=WATCH: Trump's family separation policy under scrutiny in House hearing |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-house-subcommittee-hearing-on-trump-administrations-family-separation-policy |work=[[PBS NewsHour]] |access-date=March 11, 2019))</ref> Secretary Alex Azar refused a request to testify and Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she would appear at the second hearing in March. Jonathan White, who oversaw the care of minors for HHS, testified that neither he nor any other career person in the department's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) had been informed of the new Trump policy and if they had they would not have supported it. He warned that "Separating children from their parents poses significant risks of traumatic psychological injury to the child. The consequences of separation for many children will be lifelong."<ref name="auto9">((cite news|last1=Gomez|first1=Alan|date=February 7, 2019|title=Democrats grill Trump administration officials over family separation policy on the border|work=[[USA Today]]|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/07/democrats-trump-administration-family-separation-policy-border-immigration/2794324002/|url-status=live|access-date=March 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222062921/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/07/democrats-trump-administration-family-separation-policy-border-immigration/2794324002/|archive-date=February 22, 2019))</ref>

The second meeting was held on March 6. The committee questioned Kirsten Nielsen about the treatment of migrants along the border and her claims that the Trump administration never had a family separation policy. Nielsen denied that the administration intended to separate families but was merely enforcing US law: "The point of it was to increase prosecutions for those breaking the law." When questioned about the "cages", as they have been called, used as enclosures at a Border Control facility, Nielsen replied, "Sir, they're not cages."<ref>((cite news |title=Democrats attack Trump immigration policy; Kirstjen Nielsen grilled over family separations |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/06/trump-immigration-policy-under-attack-democrats-hearings-kirstjen-nielsen-daca-tps/3074583002/ |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=March 11, 2019))</ref>

=== Continuing family separations reported ===

There have been various media reports that the Trump administration had continued the family separation policy even after a court had ordered in June 2018 to put an end to routine family separations. Some of the reports included ''USA Today'' in February 2019,<ref>((cite news |last1=Gomez |first1=Alan |title=Despite ban, separating migrant families at the border continues in some cases |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/21/trump-administration-breaks-up-some-migrant-families-heres-how-cbp-border-sabraw-separate/2836085002/ |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=June 24, 2019 |date=February 21, 2019))</ref> ''The Boston Globe'' in March 2019,<ref name="auto8">((Cite news|last1=Jordan|first1=Miriam|last2=Dickerson|first2=Caitlin|author-link2=Caitlin Dickerson|date=March 9, 2019|title=Hundreds of migrant children are taken from families despite rollback of separation policy|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2019/03/09/hundreds-migrant-children-are-taken-from-families-despite-rollback-separation-policy/qRgH3JRc8G7KEgzQz5aHfO/story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=March 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508002922/https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2019/03/09/hundreds-migrant-children-are-taken-from-families-despite-rollback-separation-policy/qRgH3JRc8G7KEgzQz5aHfO/story.html|archive-date=May 8, 2019|via=[[The Boston Globe]]))</ref> ''Los Angeles Times'' in April 2019,<ref>((cite news |last1=O'Toole |first1=Molly |title=Family separations a year later: The fallout—and the separations—continue |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-family-separation-trump-year-later-20190412-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=June 24, 2019 |date=April 12, 2019))</ref> [[CBS News]] in May 2019,<ref>((cite news |last1=Bojorquez |first1=Manuel |title=7-year-old girl reunites with immigrant father 326 days after being separated |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/young-girl-reunites-with-immigrant-father-326-days-after-being-separated-2019-05-07/ |work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=June 24, 2019 |date=May 8, 2019))</ref> and ''[[Houston Chronicle]]'' in June 2019.<ref>((cite news |last1=Kriel |first1=Lomi |last2=Begley |first2=Dug |title=Trump administration still separating hundreds of migrant children at the border through often questionable claims of danger |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Trump-administration-still-separating-hundreds-of-14029494.php |work=[[Houston Chronicle]] |access-date=June 24, 2019 |date=June 22, 2019))</ref> In March 2019, the government reported to Judge Sabraw that 245 children were removed from their families, in some cases without clear documentation undertaken to track them in order to reunite them with their parents.<ref name="auto8"/><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/border-family-separations-trump-administration-border-patrol/3563990002/|title=Trump administration has separated hundreds of children from their migrant families since 2018|last1=Jervis|first1=Rick|last2=Gomez|first2=Alan|date=May 2, 2019|work=[[USA Today]]|language=en|access-date=2019-05-02))</ref>

In April 2019, officials in the Trump administration alleged that since around the end of 2018, Trump had repeatedly attempted to convince Department of Homeland Security Secretary [[Kirstjen Nielsen]] to resume and extend family separations regardless of legality and despite public concerns. Nielsen announced that she was leaving her position as department head on April 7, 2019.<ref name="2019-04-08-cnn-tapper">((cite news|last=Tapper|first=Jake|title=Trump pushed to close El Paso border, told admin officials to resume family separations and agents not to admit migrants|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=2019-04-08 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/politics/trump-family-separation-el-paso-kirstjen-nielsen/index.html|access-date=2019-04-08))</ref> Two days later, Trump denied reports he planned to renew and expand his family separation policy, asserting "President Obama had child separation. Take a look—the press knows it, you know it, we all know it. I'm the one that stopped it." In contrast to the Trump systematic family separation policy to deter migrants from entering the US, the Obama separation policy was used only in instances when the child's safety was in question or the adult had a prior criminal conviction.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/politics/donald-trump-family-separation-border/index.html|title=Trump denies reports he will reinstate family separation border policy|first=Betsy|last=Klein|publisher=[[CNN]]))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/9/18303439/trump-blame-obama-family-separations-debunked|title=Trump's attempt to blame Obama for family separations, debunked|first=Aaron|last=Rupar|date=April 9, 2019|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]))</ref>

=== Poor conditions in holding facilities reported ===
In June 2019, a group of attorneys who are involved with the [[Flores settlement]] visited a Border Patrol center in Clint, Texas. The facility houses 250 children including a 1-year-old, two 2-year-olds, a 3-year-old and "dozens more under 12". The lawyers reported that "kids are taking care of kids, and there's inadequate food, water and sanitation". They reported that the children weren't sleeping in beds but on the concrete floor with only foil blankets. Soap and toothbrushes were not supplied. When questioned, a Department of Justice attorney argued that the children were being properly cared for according to the legal standards but the standards did not mention that the children needed soap or toothbrushes. The children told the lawyers that meals consisted of instant oatmeal, a cookie and sweetened drink for breakfast, instant noodles for lunch, and a heated frozen burrito and a cookie for dinner. They said they had not had a clean change of clothing or a bath for weeks. There were no adult caretakers, ten and fourteen year old girls were taking care of the younger ones. A 14-year-old girl from Guatemala who had been holding two little girls in her lap told them, "I need comfort, too. I am bigger than they are, but I am a child, too."<ref>((cite news |title=Attorneys: Texas border facility is neglecting migrant kids |url=https://www.apnews.com/46da2dbe04f54adbb875cfbc06bbc615 |work=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=September 9, 2019))</ref><ref name="APNews21Jun19" /><ref name="BBC27Jun19" /><ref name="ChotinerNewYorker" />

On July 1, 2019, several Democratic congress men and women visited migrant detention centers in Texas in a tour organized by Border Patrol agents at 48 hours' notice. Representative [[Marc Veasey]] said Border Patrol "went out of their way to show us facilities that were mostly empty", but the migrant detainees inside "described being deprived of daily showers and certain other rights".<ref>((cite news |last1=Ferris |first1=Sarah |last2=Caygle |first2=Heather |title=Dems call for firing Border Patrol agents over 'vile' Facebook posts |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/01/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-1392083 |work=[[Politico]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019))</ref> Representative [[Madeleine Dean]] labelled the situation as "a human rights crisis". They reported fifteen women in their 50s and 60s sleeping in a small concrete cell with no running water and weeks without showers. They had all been separated from their families. Representative [[Lori Trahan]] said she saw women "sobbing in a crowded cell because they were separated from their kids". Representatives [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]], [[Judy Chu]] and [[Joaquin Castro]] alleged that Border Patrol had told detained migrant women to drink out of a toilet for water.<ref name=July1visit>((cite news |last1=Reiss |first1=Jaclyn |title=Here's what Mass. representatives said about their experience visiting migrant detention centers |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/07/01/here-what-mass-representatives-said-about-their-experience-visiting-migrant-detention-centers/wlQWzuF34cnh0EZ2HCo3OP/story.html |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Christoper |title=AOC paints grim picture of U.S. migrant detention centers: 'People drinking out of toilets' |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-border-patrol-violent-culture-171703682.html |work=[[Yahoo! News]] |access-date=July 2, 2019))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Cross |first1=David |last2=Baudisch |first2=Portia |title=Migrant women told to drink from toilet at El Paso facility, congressional members say |url=https://keprtv.com/news/nation-world/congressional-delegation-visits-migrant-detention-facilities |publisher=[[KEPR-TV]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019))</ref> Castro also said that he had met between 15 and 20 mothers who had been detained for more than fifty days, some of whom had been separated from their children.<ref>((cite news |last1=Villagran |first1=Lauren |title='The system is still broken': Lawmakers tour El Paso-area Border Patrol facilities |url=https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/07/01/migrant-children-detained-clint-border-patrol-station-congressional-hispanic-caucus/1617059001/ |work=[[El Paso Times]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019))</ref> Representative [[Joe Kennedy III]] said that Border Patrol had been uncooperative, attempting to confiscate the congressmen's phones, and blocking the taking of pictures and videos.<ref>((cite news |last1=González |first1=David |title=Ocasio Cortez describe las condiciones en los centros de detención de migrantes como 'horripilantes' |url=https://www.france24.com/es/20190702-ocasio-cortez-condiciones-centros-detencion-migrantes |publisher=[[France 24]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |language=es |date=July 2, 2019))</ref> Activists who had gathered at the facility chanted support for President Donald Trump and directed racist comments towards Representative [[Rashida Tlaib]], a Muslim.<ref>((cite news |last1=Bernal |first1=Rafael |title=Democratic lawmakers pay tense visit to Texas migrant facility |url=https://thehill.com/latino/451264-democratic-lawmakers-pay-tense-visit-to-texas-migrant-facility/ |work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019))</ref>

Between January 2017 and April 2020, 39 adults have died in ICE custody or immediately after being released.<ref name=":10">((Cite journal|last=American Civil Liberties Union Research Report|date=April 2020|title=Justice Free Zones: U.S. Immigration Detention Under the Trump Administration|url=https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/justice-free_zones_immigrant_detention_report_aclu_hrw_nijc_0.pdf))</ref> The ACLU reported, "As part of its recent growth, ICE has awarded contracts at facilities well known for abuse, including former prisons with conditions so terrible that the federal government terminated their contracts in prior administrations."<ref name=":10" /> Investigations found that some facilities were understaffed or engaged in cost cutting measures that could endanger the health of people in detention.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":11">((Cite web|last=Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General|date=June 3, 2019|title=Concerns About ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Four Detention Facilities|url=https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-47-Jun19.pdf))</ref><ref name=":12">((Cite journal|last=Human Rights Watch|date=June 2018|title=Code Red: The Fatal Consequences of Dangerously Substandard Medical Care in Immigrant Detention.|url=https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/coderedreportdeathsicedetention.pdf))</ref> Medical facilities appeared dangerously unprepared with experts raising concerns for medical mismanagement of sick individuals.<ref name=":11"/><ref name=":10"/><ref name=":12"/> In interviews, detainees shared concerns about sanitation and their ability to maintain personal hygiene standards as they were not being provided with soap for bathing or other basic hygiene and cleaning supplies.<ref name=":10"/>

Reports detailed gaps in the provision of basic mental health services. Between January 2017 and March 2020, twelve people have died as a result of apparent suicide while in detention. The ACLU has received reports of people in distress, including survivors of torture and sexual assault who did not receive timely access to support services. Reports detail people with disabilities who failed to receive legally required reasonable assistance for their disabilities and instead faced abuse by detention officials. It was also reported that "officers have used physical force, tear gas and pepper spray, and they have threatened immigrants in detention facilities."<ref name=":10"/>

Multiple reports detail systematic health endangerment and neglect of detainees. Medical neglect, refusal to test immigrants for COVID-19, reported discard of medical requests submitted by detained immigrants, and fabricating medical records have been reported.<ref name=":13">((Cite web|last=Aguilera|first=J.|date=July 27, 2020|title=Parents With Kids in ICE Detention Face 'Family Separation 2.0'|url=https://time.com/5866659/ice-parents-children-detention-coronavirus-release/))</ref> Concerns have been raised regarding the rate in which hysterectomies are performed on immigrant women under ICE custody.<ref name=":14">((Cite web|last=Project South|date=September 14, 2020|title=We All Count, We Will ...|url=http://projectsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OIG-ICDC-Complaint-1.pdf))</ref> This complaint also documents actions by ICDC management, such as allowing employees to work while they are symptomatic awaiting COVID-19 test results and hiding information from employees and detained immigrants about who has tested positive for COVID-19.<ref name=":13"/><ref name=":14"/> In addition, this complaint documents ICDC's disregard for public health guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by maintaining unsanitary conditions and punishing immigrants with solitary confinement when they speak out against these injustices.<ref name=":13"/><ref name=":14"/>

Since 2017, the Trump administration has separated more than five thousand children from their parents. In May 2020, it was reported that ICE presented detained families with the choice to release their children in lieu of remaining detained together despite rapidly increasing cases of COVID-19 in the facilities. In July 2020, nearly a month after a federal ruling that the Trump administration release migrant children as rapidly as possible from Immigration and Customs enforcement centers due to COVID-19, 346 parents and children remained detained in facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks.<ref name=":15">((Cite web|last=Soboroff|first=J.|date=July 23, 2020|title=Despite judge's order, migrant children remain detained amid COVID outbreak|website=[[NBC News]]|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/despite-judge-s-order-migrant-children-remain-detained-amid-covid-n1234705))</ref> After a July 27, 2020 court deadline requiring ICE release children due to health risks posed by COVID-19, 120 children remained in custody. federal immigration officials cannot detain children for longer than twenty days. Despite that ruling, many children are detained for longer. At one Texas facility, it has been reported that 47 children have been detained for longer than three hundred days.<ref name=":13"/> Per the Flores settlement,<ref>((Cite web|last=Stracqualursi|first=V.|date=August 23, 2019|title=What is the Flores settlement?|website=[[CNN]]|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/21/politics/what-is-flores-settlement/index.html|access-date=November 21, 2020))</ref>

=== 2019 DHHS Office of the Inspector General reports ===

In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued two reports<ref>((cite report |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6380666-Inspector-General-Report-from-HHSOIG.html |title=Care Provider Facilities Described Challenges Addressing Mental Health Needs of Children in HHS Custody |author=Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |date=September 2019))</ref><ref>((cite report |url=https://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region12/121920001.pdf |author=Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services |title=Alien Children Care Provider Facilities Generally Conducted Required Background Checks But Faced Challenges in Hiring, Screening, and Retaining Employees |date=September 2009))</ref> which addressed the effects of separation and detainment on the mental health of migrant children and the deficiencies they found in children's holding centers including the under-staffing of mental health workers. The investigations were done in August and September 2018. Speaking with facility mental health clinicians and program directors, they reported that separated children exhibited "fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress" with some children exhibiting acute symptoms of grief such as crying inconsolably. While healthcare professionals have repeatedly spoken out about the trauma that is being inflicted on migrant children, this is the first time that Trump administration officials have acknowledged the harm that is being done.<ref name="CBS News">((cite news |title=Watchdog details psychological trauma among migrant children separated from families |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hhs-inspector-general-report-details-psychological-trauma-among-separated-migrant-children/ |work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=September 8, 2019))</ref>

After reviewing the report, the organization [[Physicians for Human Rights]] commented that the government must end family separations, reunite those who have been separated, and provide reparations for the harm that separation has caused. They advised:

((blockquote|No child belongs in immigration detention, even if they are detained alongside their parents. This administration should immediately adopt community-based alternatives to detention, which are humane and effective, and which lessen trauma experienced by children and families.<ref>((cite web |title=U.S. Government Confirms Migrant Children Experienced Severe Mental Health Issues Following 'Family Separation' |url=https://phr.org/news/u-s-government-confirms-migrant-children-experienced-severe-mental-health-issues-following-family-separation/ |publisher=[[Physicians for Human Rights]] |access-date=September 8, 2019|date=September 4, 2019))</ref>))

The report noted that the large influx of younger children and extended time they were spending in detention resulted in overcrowding and staff shortages. The investigation found that over half of the facilities that they visited had hired case managers who did not meet minimum education standards, and newly hired employees were allowed to work before their criminal and child welfare background checks had been completed. Six facilities received waivers allowing them to skip state child welfare checks altogether.<ref name="CBS News"/>

Democratic Representative [[Rosa DeLauro]], who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees HHS appropriations, said in a statement that the two reports were proof that Trump's family separation policy "was state-sanctioned child abuse". She commented:

((blockquote|The OIG found that separating kids from their families inflicted unspeakable trauma on them. They also noted that this trauma was extended as kids languished in warehouse-like facilities for months on end due to additional Trump administration policies, such as fingerprinting everyone in a sponsor's household. Meanwhile, some facilities were allowed to waive background checks and fingerprinting requirements for the workers that were tasked with caring for these children. That is unacceptable.<ref name="CBS News"/>))

The fingerprinting requirement was dropped in March when children were being held for as long as 93 days because sponsors feared arrest. After the fingerprint requirement was dropped, the length of stay was substantially less.<ref name="PBS Frontline"/>

The question of whether children were being given psychotropic medications was also addressed. The report showed that around 300 children were prescribed antidepressants in May–July 2018. The report noted that staff "described some concerns that dosages or types of medication may not have been right".<ref name="PBS Frontline">((cite news |title='I Can't Feel My Heart': Children Separated from Their Parents at US-Mexico Border Showed Increased Signs of Post-traumatic Stress, According to Watchdog Report |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/children-separated-from-their-parents-at-us-mexico-border-showed-increased-signs-of-post-traumatic-stress-us-report-says/ |work=[[PBS Frontline]] |access-date=September 9, 2019))</ref>

=== Government documents reveal poor conditions ===

In December 2019, documents which were obtained during a lawsuit revealed that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services knew that the resettlement camps which housed many separated immigrant families were in poor condition and created health problems for some as well.<ref name=poorconditions>((Cite web|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2019/12/16/trump-administration-knew-family-separations-harm-migrant-children/|title = The Trump administration knew migrant children would suffer from family separations. The government ramped up the practice anyway|date = December 16, 2019))</ref> The Inspector General also concluded that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers did not accurately record possible family relationships between adults and 1,233 children detained between October 2017 and mid-February 2019.<ref name=poorconditions />
[[File:Review of the DOJ’s Planning and Implementation of Its Zero Tolerance Policy and Its Coordination with the DHS and DHHS.pdf|thumb|DOJ-OIG Report (2021/01/14)]]

=== 2021 DOJ Office of the Inspector General report ===
((Main|Inspector General report on the Zero Tolerance Policy))
In January 2021, the [[United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Inspector General for the Department of Justice]] concluded an investigation into the "zero tolerance" policy, finding that: department leaders underestimated the difficulty of implementing it, failed to tell local prosecutors and others that children would be separated; failed to understand that separations would last longer than a few hours; and failed to halt the policy after that was discovered.<ref name="ap-2021-01-14">((cite web | title=Watchdog: DOJ bungled 'zero tolerance' immigration policy | website=AP NEWS | date=2021-01-14 | url=https://apnews.com/article/aclu-doj-zero-tolerance-policy-failure-b8e6e0a189f5752697335f51d57b1628 | access-date=2021-01-15 | quote=The report from the inspector general for the Justice Department found that leadership failed to prepare to implement the policy or manage the fallout, which resulted in more than 3,000 family separations during "zero tolerance" and caused lasting emotional damage to children who were taken from their parents at the border.((nbs))... According to the report, department leaders underestimated how difficult it would be to carry out the policy in the field and did not inform local prosecutors and others that children would be separated. They also failed to understand that children would be separated longer than a few hours, and when that was discovered, they pressed on.))</ref> The findings led [[Rod Rosenstein]], who had been Trump's Attorney General at the time the policy was enforced, to admit that family separations "should never have been implemented".<ref name="Holpuch Kirchgaessner 2021">((cite web | last1=Holpuch | first1=Amanda | last2=Kirchgaessner | first2=Stephanie | title=Trump official admits family separation policy 'should never have been implemented' | website=the Guardian | date=2021-01-14 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/14/trump-official-family-separation-policy-rod-rosenstein | access-date=2021-01-15 | quote=Rod Rosenstein publicly denounces 'zero-tolerance' policy for first time, following report showing US didn’t effectively coordinate care for children))</ref> According to an ''NBC News'' report on the investigation, "The report could provide a road map for the incoming Biden administration to investigate those responsible for a policy President-elect Joe Biden has called criminal."<ref>((cite web |title=Justice officials respond to report on family separation by blaming Trump, expressing regret |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/justice-officials-respond-new-report-family-separation-blaming-trump-expressing-n1254278 |website=NBC News |date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=January 15, 2021))</ref>

== Motivation ==

In February 2017, [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] (ICE) asylum chief John Lafferty told DHS employees that the Trump administration was "in the process of reviewing" several policies aimed at lowering the number of asylum seekers to the United States, which included the idea of separating migrant mothers and children.<ref name="Ainsley June 19, 2018"/>

Speaking on [[NPR]] in May 2018, [[White House Chief of Staff]] [[John F. Kelly]] described the policy as "a [[Deterrence (legal)|tough deterrent]] [and] a much faster turnaround on asylum seekers". When questioned if it might be considered "cruel and heartless" to remove children from their mothers, Kelly replied, "I wouldn't put it quite that way. The children will be taken care of—put into foster care or whatever."<ref>((cite news |author=John Burnett |title=Transcript: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's Interview With NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/05/11/610116389/transcript-white-house-chief-of-staff-john-kellys-interview-with-npr|publisher=NPR|date=May 11, 2018))</ref>

In June 2018, Attorney General Sessions said, "If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. We've got to get this message out. You're not given immunity."<ref>((cite news |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Eil |title=Sessions defends separating immigrant parents and children: 'We've got to get this message out' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/06/05/sessions-defends-separating-immigrant-parents-and-children-weve-got-to-get-this-message-out/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 16, 2018))</ref> White House senior policy adviser [[Stephen Miller (political advisor)|Stephen Miller]] said: "It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period. The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law."<ref name="DavisShear">((cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/politics/family-separation-trump.html|title=How Trump Came to Enforce a Practice of Separating Migrant Families|last1=Davis|first1=Julie Hirschfeld|date=June 16, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 19, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180618122934/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/politics/family-separation-trump.html|archive-date=June 18, 2018|last2=Shear|first2=Michael D.|quote=exceptions were generally made for adults who were traveling with minor children|author-link=Julie Hirschfeld Davis|author-link2=Michael D. Shear|url-access=limited))</ref>

''[[The Washington Post]]'' quoted a White House official as saying that Trump's decision was intended to "[[Leverage (negotiation)|force people to the table]]" to negotiate on laws in Congress.<ref>((cite news |last1=Scherer |first1=Michael |last2=Dawsey |first2=Josh |title=Trump cites as a negotiating tool his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-as-a-negotiating-tool-his-policy-of-separating-immigrant-children-from-their-parents/2018/06/15/ade82b80-70b3-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref> Meanwhile, Trump tweeted: "Any Immigration Bill MUST HAVE full funding for the Wall, end Catch & Release, Visa Lottery and Chain, and go to Merit Based Immigration."((sic))<ref>((cite news |last1=Kopan |first1=Tal |title=Trump rejects immigration compromise |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/15/politics/trump-immigration-compromise/index.html |work=CNN|access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref>

== Process ==

The [[Department of Homeland Security]] (DHS) detains families suspected of illegally crossing the border.<ref name=":03">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/19/the-facts-about-trumps-policy-of-separating-families-at-the-border/|title=Analysis: The facts about Trump's policy of separating families at the border|last=Rizzo|first=Salvador|date=June 19, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Prior to 2018, most suspected illegal border-crossers were dealt with through civil proceedings in immigration courts, where deportation proceedings and asylum hearings take place; most who were criminally prosecuted in federal court "either had been apprehended at least twice before, or had committed a serious crime".<ref name=Jordan19>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/border-immigration-courts.html|title=Swift Frontier Justice for Migrants Brought to Federal Courts |last=Jordan |first=Miriam|date=June 19, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Under the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy, the Department of Justice began to criminally prosecute all suspected illegal border-crossers for [[illegal entry]], even those who crossed for the first time.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/us/immigrants-family-separation.html|title=How and Why 'Zero Tolerance' Is Splitting Up Immigrant Families|date=May 12, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref><ref name=Jordan19/> Families undergo separations when parents or adult relatives were charged with unlawful entry.<ref name="horwitz12"/>

Parents are held in Federal jails prior to trial. The government conducts expedited, mass trials of alleged border crossers under [[Operation Streamline]]. According to ''The New York Times'', "Lawyers receive the roster of clients assigned to them on the morning of the hearing and meet with each one for about twenty minutes to explain the charges and the process in Spanish."<ref name=Jordan19/> People who plead guilty are typically sentenced to time served in jail, while repeat offenders may be sentenced to 30–75 days in jail.<ref name=Jordan19/> Once convicted, they are eligible for deportation. Due to the Trump executive order, DHS no longer prioritized deporting those convicted of more dangerous crimes. They are then transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.<ref name=":03" />

According to several defense lawyers working with the immigrants, in many cases the [[United States Border Patrol|Border Patrol]] agents lie to the parents in order to get them to let go of their kids, telling them that the children are being taken for questioning or "to be given a bath". In other cases the children may be removed to another location while the parent is in jail being processed, which generally takes a few hours.<ref name="autogenerated2">((cite news |last=Grady |first=Constance |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents |title=Family separation at the border: what you need to know about Trump's alarming immigration policy |publisher=Vox |access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref> 
Children are held temporarily by the DHS before being transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services' [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]] (ORR). ORR contracts the operation of around 100 facilities for child migrants to companies and nonprofit organizations. The [[Reno v. Flores|''Flores'' settlement]] requires that ORR hold children no longer than twenty days before releasing them.

Children are being transferred into foster care placements across the country. The fifty children placed in western Michigan include infants of((nbs))8 and 11 months, and have an average age of 8. Children are flown to Michigan during the overnight hours, and foster care officials report they have not been told where they are going. Officials also report that children have been waiting as long as thirty days to speak to their parents, due to difficulties locating them.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/06/20/baby-boys-separated-immigrant-parents-michigan/714527002/|title=Torn from immigrant parents, 8-month-old baby lands in Michigan|last=Baldas|first=Tresa|date=June 20, 2018|work=Detroit Free Press|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>
According to the legal support organization KIND, in at least six cases including that of a two-year-old girl, parents being deported have not been reunited with their children, who remain in the United States.<ref name=Jordan7>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/children-immigration-borders-family-separation.html|title='It's Horrendous': The Heartache of a Migrant Boy Taken From His Father|last=Jordan|first=Miriam|date=June 7, 2018|work=The New York Times |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

According to a June 2018 analysis by ''[[USA Today]]'', in most cases migrants are bused from the immigration holding facility to federal court where they plead guilty to having entered the country illegally, a [[misdemeanor]], and are sentenced to whatever time they have already spent in the government's custody and a $10 (~$((Format price|((Inflation|index=US|value=10|start_year=2018)))) in ((Inflation/year|US))) fine. They are then bused back to the holding facility to be processed for deportation. If they have children, upon their return they may find that their children are gone.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/21/trumps-zero-tolerance-border-prosecutions-led-time-served-and-10-fee/722237002/|title=Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' border prosecutions led to time served, $10 fees|work=USA Today |access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref><ref name="msnbc1">((cite news|url=https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/exclusive-366-migrant-kids-torn-from-parents-in-8-days-1257034819627?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ai|title=Exclusive: 366 migrant kids torn from parents in 8 days|access-date=June 19, 2018|publisher=MSNBC))</ref>

According to a report of June 27 by ''[[Texas Tribune]]'', immigrant children as young as three years old have been ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings. Children in immigration court are not entitled to free, court-appointed attorneys to represent them. Instead, they are given a list of legal services organizations that might help them.<ref>((Cite news|first1=Christina|last1=Jewett|first2=Shefali|last2=Luthra|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/27/immigrant-toddlers-ordered-appear-court-alone/|title=Immigrant toddlers ordered to appear in court alone|newspaper=The Texas Tribune|date=June 27, 2018|access-date=July 4, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite web|first1=Dan|last1=MacGuill|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/children-immigration-court-deportation-attorney/|title=Fact Check: Do Children in Immigration Proceedings Have No Right to Court-Appointed Representation?|website=Snopes|date=June 27, 2018|access-date=July 4, 2018))</ref>

== Impact ==

In the past, most migrants illegally crossing the border came almost entirely from Mexico; however, the current influx now includes greater numbers of women and children fleeing violence, gang recruitment, and sexual trafficking in the [[Northern Triangle of Central America]] countries of [[El Salvador]], [[Guatemala]], and [[Honduras]]. Rather than illegally crossing into the US, they are presenting themselves at the border hoping to claim [[Right of asylum|asylum]], which they were legally entitled to do under certain circumstances.<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741769333/u-s-sets-new-asylum-rule-telling-potential-refugees-to-apply-elsewhere |title=Trump Administration Implementing 'Safe 3rd Country' Rule On Migrants Seeking Asylum |date=July 15, 2019 |work=NPR |access-date=18 January 2020))</ref><ref name="autogenerated3"/> The Trump administration claimed the family separation policy was directed at those migrants who illegally crossed the U.S. border but they then decided to charge everyone crossing the border with illegal entry. They also charged asylum seekers in criminal court rather than waiting to see if they qualified for asylum.((r|Vox explained))

In June 2018, US Representative [[Pramila Jayapal]] spoke with recently arrived detainees at the [[Federal Detention Center, SeaTac]] facility located near Seattle. The facility housed 206 immigrants, 174 of them were women. Many of the women spoke of "fleeing threats of rape, gang violence and political persecution".<ref name="chicagotribune1">((cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-immigrants-policy-criticism-20180610-story.html|title=Officials blast Trump policy after visiting detained immigrants|last1=Wang|first1=Amy|date=June 10, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 16, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618045141/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-immigrants-policy-criticism-20180610-story.html|archive-date=June 18, 2018|via=the [[Chicago Tribune]]|url-access=limited))</ref> She said more than half of the women were mothers who had forcibly been separated from their children, some as young as twelve months old, and said that many did not know where their children were being detained. Commenting on her visit of the facility, Jayapal called the women's stories "heartbreaking", saying, "I've been doing immigration-rights work for almost two decades. I am not new to these stories. I will tell you there was not a dry eye in the house.((nbs))... Some of them heard their children screaming for them in the next room. Not a single one of them had been allowed to say goodbye or explain to them what was happening."<ref name="chicagotribune1"/>

=== Number of children ===

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on June 15, 2018, that 1,995 immigrant children were separated from their parents (mostly due to not crossing at a legal port of entry)<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/us/politics/customs-border-protection-family-separations.html|title=Migrant Families Who Enter at Legal Ports Are Rarely Separated, Customs Officials Say|last=Nixon|first=Ron|date=2018-07-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331))</ref> during the six weeks from April 19 and May 31.<ref>((cite magazine |author=Kevin Kelleher|url=http://fortune.com/2018/06/15/dhs-1995-children-separated-families-zero-tolerance-policy/|title=DHS: 1,995 Children Separated from Families Under 'Zero Tolerance' Policy|magazine=Fortune|date=June 15, 2018|access-date=June 23, 2018))</ref> This figure did not include children of families that asked for asylum at an official border crossing and were then separated.<ref name="Vox explained">((cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents|title=The Trump administration's separation of families at the border, explained|author=Dara Lind|date=August 14, 2018|publisher=Vox|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-as-a-negotiating-tool-his-policy-of-separating-immigrant-children-from-their-parents/2018/06/15/ade82b80-70b3-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html|title=Trump cites as a negotiating tool his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents.|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref> Speaking on [[Face the Nation]] on June 17, [[Senator Susan Collins]] suggested that the number may well be higher.<ref name="transcript" />

Steven Wagner, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the [[Administration for Children and Families]] under HHS, was unable to say in June 2018 how many separated children had been placed with sponsors or reunited with their parents, but that the department is "under a legal obligation" to place children quickly with a sponsor, however, "we actually don't have a time limit in terms of days" that the children are allowed to stay in HHS care.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/6/19/17479138/how-many-families-separated-border-immigration|title=New statistics: the government is separating 65 children a day from parents at the border|work=Vox|date=June 19, 2018|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

Zero tolerance and the separation of children was suspended for an indefinite period of time on June 20, 2018, through an executive order. On June 26, US District Court Judge [[Dana Sabraw]] issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the family-separation policy and required the government to reunite separated families within thirty days and to reunite children under five with their parents within 14 days. On that date DHS stated that 522 migrant children, all of them in the custody of Customs and Border Protection, had been reunited with their families.<ref name="FactSheet">((cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/06/23/fact-sheet-zero-tolerance-prosecution-and-family-reunification|title=Fact Sheet: Zero-Tolerance Prosecution and Family Reunification|date=June 23, 2018|publisher=Department of Homeland Security|access-date=June 26, 2018))</ref> After a site visit to DHS facilities, Senator [[Elizabeth Warren]] reported that, "Mothers and children may be considered 'together' if they're held in the same gigantic facility, even if they're locked in separate cages with no access to one another."<ref name=":3">((cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-report-visit-immigrant-detention-centers_us_5b32bc2de4b0b5e692f23d92|title=Elizabeth Warren Details Immigration Center Visit In Gut-Wrenching Report|last=Shapiro|first=Rebecca|date=June 26, 2018|work=HuffPost|access-date=July 7, 2018))</ref> The Secretary of Health and Human Services [[Alex Azar]] testified that 2,047 children—out of a total of around 2,300 ever in HHS custody—continued to be held in HHS-contracted facilities.<ref name="Itkowitz" />

On July 5, Azar declared that the total number of children that had been separated was under 3,000 and that, of these, the number of children under five years was fewer than 100.<ref name=":1">((Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-05/u-s-says-it-ll-return-immigrant-children-under-5-by-next-week|title=U.S. Says It'll Return Immigrant Children Under 5 by Next Week|date=July 5, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2018))</ref> On July 6, government lawyers informed Judge Sabraw that HHS would be able to meet the deadline of July 19 for only about half the concerned children.<ref name="nbc-2018-07-06">((Cite news|author=Julia Ainsley|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-asks-more-time-reunite-kids-parents-separated-border-n889301|title=Trump admin lost track of parents of 38 young migrant children|work=NBC News|date=July 6, 2018|access-date=July 7, 2018))</ref> The government had connected 46 of the toddlers with parents still in custody.<ref name=":2" /> Concerning the other half, the lawyers stated that the parents of 19 of the children had been released and now had unknown whereabouts, and the parents of further 19 children had been deported. Two children had been connected to parents criminally ineligible to re-take custody of their children.<ref name=":2" /> Judge Sabraw said the time limit for reunifying the youngest children could be extended under the condition that the government would provide a master list of all children and the status of their parents. A list of 101 children was to be shared with the ACLU within the following day.<ref name="nbc-2018-07-06"/> A status conference was scheduled for the morning of July((nbs))9 concerning which cases would merit a delay.<ref name="judge-rejects-blanket-delay-2018-07-06"/><ref name="nbc-2018-07-06"/> On July 6, a government lawyer provided the status of 102 children under five in custody to Federal Judge Dana Sabraw, and stated that numbers are approximate and "in flux".<ref name=":2">((Cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/06/trump-administration-asks-court-more-time-family-reunification-deadlin/|title=Some migrant children under 5 unlikely to be reunited with their parents by Tuesday deadline|last1=Parker|first1=Claire|date=July 6, 2018|work=The Texas Tribune|last2=Platoff|first2=Emma |access-date=July 7, 2018))</ref>

In September 2018 it was reported that 12,800 children were being held in federal custody, and that federal shelters housing migrant children were filled to around ninety percent since May 2018.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-holding-12800-migrant-children-in-detention-centers-report-says/|title=Feds holding 12,800 migrant children in detention centers, report says|access-date=2018-09-13|language=en))</ref>

A report by Amnesty International, published in 2018, found that the statistics on the separated children did not include children who had been separated from non-parental relationships, for example from grandparents, or those who were separated due to their documentation being insufficient.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/10/11/17963380/family-separation-news-still-children|title=Trump is separating an unknown number of families at the border for 'fraud'|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|access-date=2019-01-17|date=2018-10-11))</ref><ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/10/usa-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-southern-border/|title=USA: 'You don't have any rights here'|date=October 11, 2018|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|access-date=2019-01-17))</ref> In January 2019, auditors from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services stated that the practice of separating migrant children from their families started earlier and involved thousands more children than previously known, and that in the summer of 2017 a "steep increase in the number of children who had been separated from a parent or guardian" occurred.<ref name=audit>((Cite news|first=Patrick|last=Timmons|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/01/17/Audit-finds-thousands-more-migrant-kids-were-separated-from-families/5671547743793|title=Audit finds thousands more migrant kids were separated from families|work=[[United Press International]]|date=2019-01-17|access-date=2019-01-17))</ref><ref>((Cite web|url=https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-BL-18-00511.pdf|title=Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement Carepublisher=Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services|date=January 2019|access-date=2019-01-17))</ref>

A followup government report released in January 2019, revealed that while HHS had previously said that the total number of children separated from their parents was 2,737, a new investigation revealed that the actual number of separated children was several thousand higher, with the exact number unknown due to poor record keeping.<ref name="apunknown"/><ref name="auto"/> HHS is not able to identify or count children who were released from the government's custody before officials started identifying separated families.<ref>((Cite news|author=Dara Lind|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/17/18186773/families-children-separated-trump-thousands|title=It's official: we'll never know the real scope of Trump's family separation crisis|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date=2019-01-17|access-date=2019-04-06))</ref> Following a court ruling in 2019, government officials stated that identifying all children would require a joint effort of 12 to 24 months duration led by a team of officials representing HSS, ICE and CBP.<ref>((Cite news|author=Catherine E. Shoichet, Priscilla Alvarez|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/06/politics/family-separations-plan/index.html|title=It may take 2 years to identify thousands of separated families, government says|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=2019-04-06|access-date=2019-04-07))</ref>

In October 2019 the Trump administration again revised its estimate of the number of children separated from parents, adding 1,556 to the previous number and bringing the total to almost 5,500. Approximately 1,090 of those separations occurred following the court order to end family separations. The ACLU continues to look for more children who were separated prior to the "zero tolerance" announcement. In a statement, ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said: "It is shocking that 1,556 more families—including babies and toddlers—join the thousands of others already torn apart by this inhumane and illegal policy. Families have suffered tremendously, and some may never recover. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated."<ref>((cite news |last1=Nicole |first1=Narea |title=The Trump administration just admitted that it separated an additional 1,500 immigrant families |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/25/20931992/trump-administration-aclu-lawsuit-separate-families-immigrant-policy-1500 |website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|access-date=October 26, 2019))</ref>

In October 2020, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that more than 5,500 children in total had been separated from their parents at the U.S. border under the Trump administration.<ref name="Dickerson">((cite news |last1=Dickerson |first1=Caitlin |title=Parents of 545 Children Separated at the Border Cannot Be Found |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/us/migrant-children-separated.html |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=21 October 2020))</ref>

=== Impacts of separation on children ===

Children's mental health has had a strong correlation with forced parent–child separation and parental loss which has led to potential traumatic events (PTEs). Research has found that "forced parent–child separation and parental loss are PTEs with adverse effects on child mental health and academic functioning".<ref name="Rojas-Flores, L. 2017">((cite journal |last1=Rojas-Flores |first1=L. |last2=Clements |first2=M. L. |last3=Koo |first3=J. H. |last4=London |first4=J. |year=2017 |title=Trauma and Psychological Distress in Latino Citizen Children Following Parental Detention and Deportation |journal=Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=352–361 |doi=10.1037/tra0000177|pmid=27504961|s2cid=4391287 ))</ref> Reports show that children who have experienced PTEs from parent deportation have been more prone to being diagnosed with [[PTSD]]. Research also found that "emerging research has indicated that parental detention and deportation increase risk for mental health problems such as severe psychological distress, anxiety, and depression".<ref name="Rojas-Flores, L. 2017"/> Due to these mental stressors, many of these children have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from traumatic parent separations. A case study of 91 U.S. born citizens ages 6((nbs))to 12, using the UCLA Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index and found that "29% of all child participants met criteria for full (19%) or partial (10%) PTSD diagnoses".<ref name="Rojas-Flores, L. 2017"/>

A 2018 study looked at the impact of parent-child separation and child detention on the mental health and development of children. The author interviewed parents and children who had experienced separation and reported that the separation of the children from their parents together with a background of chronic and acute adversity has created a "perfect storm for attachment damage, toxic stress and trauma". The author noted that a child under prolonged stress "may develop complex patterns of protective responses that can include hyperarousal—hypervigilance, agitation, flashbacks and emotional reactivity, or hypoarousal—dissociative responses, emotional numbing (self-harm may be used as a tool to 'feel alive'), passive compliance and poor access to cognitive functioning". The study's findings also suggested that enforcement of immigration laws poses "serious health challenges and risks for lifelong mental illness in children".<ref>((cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Laura |title=Impact of punitive immigration policies, parent-child separation and child detention on the mental health and development of children |journal=BMJ Paediatrics Open |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=e000338 |pmc=6173255 |year=2018 |pmid=30306145 |doi=10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000338))</ref>

=== Fiscal costs and diversion of resources ===

The costs of separating migrant children from their parents and keeping them in "tent cities" are higher than keeping them with their parents in detention centers.<ref name=Ainsley>((Cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-s-tent-cities-cost-more-keeping-migrant-kids-n884871 |title=Tent cities cost millions more than keeping migrant kids with parents |work=NBC News |first=Julia |last=Ainsley |date=June 20, 2018))</ref> It costs $775 per person per night to house the children when they are separated but $256 per person per night when they are held in permanent HHS facilities and $298 per person per night to keep the children with their parents in ICE detention centers.<ref name=Ainsley />

To handle the large amount of immigration charges brought by the Trump administration, federal prosecutors had to divert resources from other crime cases.<ref name=Heath>((Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/22/zero-tolerance-immigration-crackdown-diverting-resources-drug-cases/727532002/ |title=DOJ: Trump's immigration crackdown 'diverting' resources from drug cases |work=[[USA Today]] |first=Brad |last=Heath |access-date=June 23, 2018))</ref> The head of the Justice Department's major crimes unit in [[San Diego]] diverted staff from drug smuggling cases.<ref name=Heath/> Drug smuggling cases were also increasingly pursued in state courts rather than federal courts, as federal prosecutor were increasingly preoccupied with pursuing charges against illegal border crossings.<ref name=Heath /> In October 2018, ''USA Today'' reported that federal drug-trafficking prosecutions on the Southern border plummeted, as prosecutorial resources were diverted to the family separation policy.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2018/10/10/border-drug-trafficking-prosecutions-plunged-zero-tolerance/1521128002/|title=As feds focused on detaining kids, border drug prosecutions plummeted|work=USA Today|access-date=2018-10-12|language=en))</ref>

It was reported in June 2018, that the Trump administration plans to pay Texas non-profit [[Southwest Key]] more than $458 million in the fiscal year of 2018 to care for immigrant children detained crossing the US border illegally.<ref>((cite magazine|url=http://time.com/5316722/nonprofit-paid-458-million-trump-administration-detain-migrant-children-family-separation/|title=Nonprofit to Be Paid $458 Million to Detain Migrant Children|magazine=Time|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

In July 2018, it was reported that HHS had diverted at least $40 million from its health programs to care for and reunify migrant children, and that the HHS was preparing to shift more than $200 million from other HHS accounts.<ref name=":9">((Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/18/trump-migrants-health-programs-692955|title=Trump's migrant fiasco diverts millions from health programs|work=Politico|access-date=July 18, 2018))</ref> In September 2018, it was reported that the Trump administration planned to shift more than $260 million (~$((Format price|((Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=260000000|start_year=2018)))) in ((Inflation/year|US-GDP))) from HHS programs, including those on cancer research and HIV/AIDS research, to cover the costs associated with detaining children and delaying releasing them to adults.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/20/politics/hhs-shifting-money-cancer-aids-immigrant-children/index.html|title=Trump admin moves $260M from cancer research, HIV/AIDS programs to cover custody of immigrant children costs|first=Tal |last=Kopan|work=CNN|access-date=2018-09-29))</ref>

=== ProPublica audio tape ===

[[File:Crying children who have been separated from their families at the U.S. border.webm|thumbtime=2|thumb|upright=1.2|[[ProPublica]] recording of crying children separated from their families]]

On June 18, 2018, as reporters waited for a briefing by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security [[Kirstjen Nielsen]], [[ProPublica]] posted a recording of crying children begging for their parents just after being separated from them, which the reporters listened to as they waited for her to speak. Nielsen arrived and spoke, blaming Congress for the administration's policy of separating parents from their children and saying that there would be no change in policy until Congress rewrote the nation's immigration laws. At one point during the briefing, [[New York (magazine)|''New York'' magazine]] reporter Olivia Nuzzi played the tape. Nielsen refused to answer any questions about the material in the tape, such as "How is this not child abuse?"<ref>((cite news |last1=Engelberg |first1=Stephen |title=DHS Chief is Confronted With ProPublica Tape of Wailing Children Separated from Parents |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/kirstjen-nielsen-homeland-security-crying-children-white-house-press-briefing |publisher=[[ProPublica]] |access-date=June 19, 2018|date=2018-06-19))</ref>

The tape was made on June 17 when human rights advocates and journalists toured an old warehouse where hundreds of children were being kept in wire cages. The [[Associated Press]] reported that the children had no books or toys, overhead lighting was kept on around the clock, and the children were sleeping under foil sheets. There was no adult supervision and the older children were changing the diapers of the toddlers. Michelle Brané, director of migrant rights at the [[Women's Refugee Commission]] commented, "If a parent left a child in a cage with no supervision with other 5-year-olds, they'd be held accountable".<ref>((cite web |title=Family separation under the Trump administration—a timeline |url=https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/06/17/family-separation-under-trump-administration-timeline |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=June 19, 2020))</ref> Most of the tape consists of children crying and wailing for their parents, but a six-year-old girl is heard to repeatedly beg that her aunt be called, who she is certain will come and pick her up. She had memorized her aunt's phone number and ProPublica was able to contact the aunt, but the aunt was unable to assist for fear that her own petition of asylum would be put in jeopardy due to the recent Trump Administration decision to discontinue asylum protections for victims of gang and domestic violence. The aunt said that she was able to keep in touch with her niece by phone and that she had talked to her sister; however, her sister had not yet been allowed to speak with her child. The aunt said that the authorities had told the child that her mother may be deported without her.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/children-separated-from-parents-border-patrol-cbp-trump-immigration-policy|title=Listen to Children Who've Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border|date=June 18, 2018|publisher=[[ProPublica]]|others=Ginger Thompson|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref>

Commenting on Trump's executive order and how it was related to the tape of the children crying, Republican commentator [[Leslie Sanchez]] commented on [[Face the Nation]], "And a lot of Republicans I talked to, even bundlers, people that put big amounts of money together, said, when they heard the cries of the children, without visual, being separated, that was the moment where America knew this was too far. And that's when the president retreated."<ref>((cite news |title=Full transcript: "Face the Nation" for June 24, 2018 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/full-transcript-face-the-nation-for-june-24-2018/ |work=Face the Nation |access-date=June 25, 2018))</ref>

ProPublica followed the child, Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid, and her mother and reported that in August they were reunited. A short video was posted in December 2018 which reports that Alison and her mother are learning English and Alison is going to school. Alison's mother said that gang members in El Salvador had attempted to kidnap her daughter and she had fled to the U.S. to protect her. Their future remains uncertain.<ref>((cite web  |title=What Happened To The Girl Whose Cries Became The Voice Of Family Separation |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRtEP-8S3s8 |website=YouTube | date=December 26, 2018 |access-date=June 18, 2020))</ref>

=== Allegations of forced medication and mistreatment ===

There are concerns that the facilities that children were held in may have in the past been associated with the forcible drugging of children. The ''[[Texas Tribune]]'' reported that detained children who had previously been held at the Shiloh Treatment Center said they had been forcibly treated with [[antipsychotic drugs]] by the facility personnel, based on legal filings from a class action lawsuit. According to the filings, the drugs made the children listless, dizzy and incapacitated, and in some cases unable to walk. According to a mother, after receiving the drug, her child repeatedly fell, hitting her head and eventually ending up in a wheel chair. Another child said she tried to open a window, at which point one of the supervisors hurled her against a door, choked her until she fainted and had a doctor forcibly administer an injection while she was being held down by two guards. A [[Forensic psychiatry|forensic psychiatrist]] consulted by the ''Tribune'' compared the practice to what "[[Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union|the old Soviet Union used to do]]".<ref name="auto3">((cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/20/immigrant-children-forcibly-injected-drugs-lawsuit-claims/|first1=Matt|last1=Smith|first2=Aura|last2=Bogado|title=Immigrant children forcibly injected with drugs at Texas shelter, lawsuit claims|date=June 20, 2018|work=The Texas Tribune))</ref><ref name="auto4">((cite news |url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/usworld/immigrant-children-forcibly-injected-with-psychiatric-drugs-lawsuit-claims/article_79e5fe52-8046-5e9c-82f6-e851765b3f3a.html|title=Immigrant children forcibly injected with psychiatric drugs, lawsuit claims|first1=Matt|last1=Smith|first2=Aura|last2=Bogado|newspaper=Tulsa World))</ref><ref name="pri.org">((cite news|url=https://revealnews.org/article/migrant-children-sent-to-shelters-with-histories-of-abuse-allegations/|title=Migrant children coming to the US are being sent to shelters with histories of child abuse allegations|work=[[Reveal (podcast)|Reveal]]|first1=Aura|last1=Bogado|first2=Patrick|last2=Michels|first3=Vanessa|last3=Swales|first4=Edgar|last4=Walters|date=June 20, 2018))</ref><ref name="auto6">((cite news|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ny-news-drugging-immigrant-children-20180620-story.html|title=Government-funded treatment center forcibly injected immigrant kids with drugs: legal filings|first=Megan|last=Cerullo|newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=June 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621002417/http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ny-news-drugging-immigrant-children-20180620-story.html|url-status=dead))</ref><ref name="auto7">((cite news |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/report-finds-long-history-of-abuse-in-child-migrant-shelters.html|title=Report: Nearly Half of Funding for Child Migrant Care Went to Shelters With Histories of Abuse|first=Molly|last=Olmstead|work=Slate))</ref>

The treatment center is one of the companies that have been investigated on charges of mistreating children, although the federal government continues to employ the private agency which runs it as a federal contractor.<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto4"/><ref name="pri.org"/><ref name="auto6"/><ref name="auto7"/>
[[File:Kamala Harris questions Kevin McAleenan - March 2019.ogg|thumb|US Senator [[Kamala Harris]] questions [[Kevin McAleenan]], United States Secretary of Homeland Security, about sexual abuse of immigrant children (2020).]]

On July 30, 2018, a federal judge ruled that government officials have been in violation of state child welfare laws when giving psychotropic drugs to migrant children without first seeking the consent of their parents or guardians. According to the ruling given by Judge [[Dolly Gee]], staff members have admitted to signing off on medications in lieu of a parent, relative, or guardian. The judge also ordered that the government must move all children from the facility except for those deemed by a licensed professional to pose a "risk of harm" to themselves or others.<ref>((cite news |last1=Schmidt |first1=Samantha |title=Trump administration must stop giving psychotropic drugs to migrant children without consent, judge rules |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/07/31/trump-administration-must-seek-consent-before-giving-drugs-to-migrant-children-judge-rules/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=July 31, 2018))</ref>

From 2014 to 2018, the [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]] received 4,556 allegations of [[sexual abuse]] or sexual harassment of immigrant children, 1,303 of which were referred to [[US Justice Department]].<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/immigrant-children-sexual-abuse.html|title=Thousands of Immigrant Children Said They Were Sexually Abused in U.S. Detention Centers, Report Says|first=Matthew|last=Haag|date=February 27, 2019|newspaper=The New York Times))</ref>

=== Deterrence ===

Government data from 2018 suggests that the family separation policy did little to deter migrants from crossing the US border illegally.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/border-arrest-data-suggest-trumps-push-to-split-migrant-families-had-little-deterrent-effect/2018/08/08/0f452f0e-9a85-11e8-b55e-5002300ef004_story.html|title=Border arrest data suggest Trump's push to split migrant families had little deterrent effect|last=Miroff|first=Nick|date=August 8, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|language=en|access-date=August 8, 2018))</ref>

== Legal proceedings ==
=== ACLU challenge and nationwide injunction ===

In June 2018, the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of two mothers (one from Brazil, one from [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]) who had been separated from their children, seeking a halt to the policy. On June 25, the ACLU requested an injunction halting the policy.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-flores/aclu-class-counsel-for-migrant-kids-dispute-doj-on-crucial-flores-detention-issue-idUSKBN1JL2U3|title=ACLU, class counsel for migrant kids dispute DOJ on crucial Flores detention issue|last=Frankel|first=Alison|work=Reuters|access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/2c196b47-ccbd-4802-b4a2-ce4eedcca9be|title=Plaintiffs' Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Classwide Preliminary Injunction|publisher=American Civil Liberties Union Immigrant Rights Project |date=June 25, 2018|format=PDF|access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref> On June 26, US District Judge [[Dana Sabraw]] of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of California|US District Court for the Southern District of California]] issued a nationwide [[preliminary injunction]] against the family-separation policy.<ref name="FedJudgeInjunction"/><ref name="PrelimInjunctionText"/>

In his opinion, Sabraw wrote: "The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance—responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government's own making. They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our [[United States Constitution|Constitution]]. This is particularly so in the treatment of migrants, many of whom are asylum seekers and small children."<ref name="FedJudgeInjunction" /><ref name="PrelimInjunctionText" /> Sabraw wrote that the federal government "readily keeps track of personal property of detainees in criminal and immigration proceedings", yet "has no system in place to keep track of, provide effective communication with, and promptly produce alien children".<ref name=Gerstein /> The injunction barred the US government from separating parents and children at the border unless the adults presented a danger to children, and required the government to reunite separated families within thirty days, to reunite children under five with their parents within 14 days, and to permit all separated minors to speak with their parents within ten days.<ref name="FedJudgeInjunction" /><ref name="PrelimInjunctionText" />

In March 2019, Judge Sabraw issued a preliminary ruling which would potentially expand the number of migrants included in the American Civil Liberties lawsuit after newly released government documents identified thousands more families that had been separated as early as July 1, 2017. In his ruling Sabraw called the documents "undisputed" and commented, "The hallmark of a civilized society is measured by how it treats its people and those within its borders."<ref>((cite news |title=U.S. judge may force Trump administration to reunite more families separated at Mexico border |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration/us-judge-may-force-trump-administration-to-reunite-more-families-separated-at-mexico-border-idUSKBN1QQ0EO |newspaper=Reuters |access-date=March 11, 2019|date=2019-03-09))</ref>

Judge Sabraw set a status hearing for July 6, 2018.<ref>((cite news|author=Laura Jarrett|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/26/politics/federal-court-order-family-separations/index.html|title=Federal judge orders reunification of parents and children, end to most family separations at border|publisher=CNN|date=June 27, 2018|access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref> On July 6, the Trump administration asked for more time to reunite migrant families separated, highlighting the challenge of confirming familial relationship between parents and children, with parents of 19 of 101 detained children under the age of five already deported according to a [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] lawyer.<ref name=":5">((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/migrant-children-court-families.html|title=Trump Administration Says It Needs More Time to Reunite Migrant Families|work=The New York Times |date=July 6, 2018 |access-date=July 7, 2018|last1=Jordan |first1=Miriam ))</ref> The Judge set another deadline of Tuesday (July 10) for reunification, and gave the government until Saturday evening to create a list of all 101 youngest children along with an explanation of proposed difficulties. With the list the Judge believed that the two sides would be able to have "an intelligent conversation Monday (July 9) morning about which child can be reunited July 10, which can not—and then the court can determine whether it makes sense to relax the deadline".<ref name=":5" />

==== Second ACLU lawsuit ====

Charging the Trump Administration with initiating new government screening policies designed to bar immigrants from entering the country by preventing them from getting a fair hearing, on August 7, 2018, the ACLU filed a lawsuit which focuses on migrants who have been placed in fast-track deportation proceedings known as "expedited removal". The lawsuit was filed on behalf of twelve migrants who failed their "credible fear" interviews, one of the first steps for asylum seekers in the fast-track removal process.<ref>((cite news |last1=Sacchetti |first1=Maria |title=ACLU files suit challenging Trump administration's new asylum rules |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/aclu-files-suit-challenging-trump-administrations-new-asylum-rules/2018/08/07/08155ff0-99a5-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=August 10, 2018))</ref>

=== Challenge by 17 states ===

On June 26, 2018, a separate legal challenge to the family separation was brought by 17 states (California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington) against the Trump administration.<ref name="FedJudgeInjunction"/> The suit was filed in the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Washington|US District Court in Seattle]]. The plaintiff states, all of whom have Democratic [[state attorneys general]], challenge the forcible separation of families as a "cruel and unlawful" violation of the constitution's [[Due Process Clause|Due Process]] and [[Equal Protection Clause]].<ref>((cite news |first=Gene |last=Johnson |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-states-lawsuit-family-separations-20180626-story.html |title=17 states sue to force Trump administration to reunite migrant families separated at border |work=Chicago Tribune |agency=Associated Press |date=June 26, 2018))</ref><ref name="FedJudgeInjunction"/> [[Washington Attorney General]] [[Bob Ferguson (politician)|Bob Ferguson]] is leading the suit. California Attorney General [[Xavier Becerra]], who represents California, called Trump's executive order putting a halt to the policy as an "empty and meaningless order that claims to take back policies that he [Trump] put in place himself as a political stunt".<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article213608904.html|title=California to sue Trump administration over family separation policy|last=Hart|first=Angela|date=June 21, 2018|work=The Sacramento Bee|access-date=June 24, 2018))</ref>

In a new motion filed on July 2, the group asked for immediate information and access to those who are being detained. The motion included more than 900 pages of declarations from family members as well as others who have been involved in the separation of the families. On July 5, [[PBS Newshour]] reported on 12 of the 99 declarations that they believe "offer a window into what's has been happening under the family separation policy". PBS included information from the declaration of one mother who wrote that her 1-year-old son was taken from her at a legal point of entry in November. She said that when they were reunited after three months, he cried continually, and when she removed his clothing, she found him to be dirty and infected with lice. Others spoke of multiple detainees, including young children, held in very small rooms or cages, sometimes "freezing" cold, and without adequate bathroom facilities. Several others wrote of a lack of food, including food for children. One woman wrote that she was kept in a cell with nearly fifty other mothers, and they were told "that they could not eat because they were asking about their children".<ref>((cite news |title='My son is not the same': New testimony paints bleak picture of family separation |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/my-son-is-not-the-same-new-testimony-paints-bleak-picture-of-family-separation |work=[[PBS NewsHour]] |access-date=July 6, 2018))</ref>

=== Other court challenges ===

On August 23, 2018, the [[American Immigration Lawyers Association]] and the [[American Immigration Council]] filed a complaint with DHS alleging the "pervasive, and illegal, practice of coercing separated mothers and fathers into signing documents they may not have understood". According to the complaint, "the trauma of separation and detention creates an environment that is by its very nature coercive and makes it extremely difficult for parents to participate in legal proceedings affecting their rights". It also describes the use of "physical and verbal threats, the denial of food and water, the use of solitary confinement, the use of starvation, restrictions on feminine-hygiene products, and the use of pre-filled forms".<ref>((cite magazine |last1=Washington |first1=John |title=The Family-Separation Crisis Is Not Over |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/the-family-separation-crisis-is-not-over/ |website=[[The Nation]] |date=September 5, 2018 |access-date=October 4, 2018 |archive-date=October 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004230002/https://www.thenation.com/article/the-family-separation-crisis-is-not-over/ |url-status=dead ))</ref>

Separately, a Guatemalan woman filed a federal lawsuit in the [[US District Court for the District of Columbia]] in Washington challenging the Trump administration's practice on June 19, before the executive order. It is one of a small number of similar court challenges, with demands such as the immediate release of the child, an order prohibiting US authorities from separating the family, and money for damages of pain and suffering.<ref>((Cite web|last=Mejia-Mejia|first=Beata Mariana de Jesus|date=June 19, 2018|title=United States District Court, District of Columbia|website=[[Politico]] |url=https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-19e0-d1bc-afef-5dfb78760000))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/19/family-separation-trump-administration-lawsuit-654822|title=New lawsuit challenges Trump administration over family separation|work=Politico|access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

Another lawsuit is that of a 9-year-old boy from [[Honduras]] who, according to the family, had fled with his father after his grandfather was murdered, was detained at the border and was separated from his father while sleeping. Another case is that of a 14-year-old girl who, so the lawsuit, had fled persecution in [[El Salvador]] and was lured away from her mother at a detention facility in Texas under the pretext of taking her to bathe. In both cases, the child was brought thousands of miles away.<ref>((Cite news|first=Ana|last=Radelat|url=https://ctmirror.org/2018/07/05/two-immigrant-children-connecticut-sue-trump-administration-family-separations/|title=Two immigrant children in Connecticut sue over family separations|publisher=Connecticut Mirror|date=July 5, 2018|access-date=July 6, 2018))</ref>

On September 5, 2018, a federal lawsuit was filed to seek monetary damages on the basis of the inflicted psychological harm and the creation of a fund to support the mental health treatment of the children.<ref>((cite news|title=Lawsuit Seeks Payout for Immigrant Families Separated at Border|url=https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/Lawsuit-Seeks-Payout-for-Immigrant-Families-Separated-at-Border-492621531.html|work=[[KNSD|NBC 7 News]]))</ref>

=== ''Flores'' filings ===

In 1997 the [[Flores settlement]] was signed into law. It says migrant children must be detained in the least-restrictive setting possible and only for about twenty days. On June 21, 2018, the Department of Justice (DoJ) asked US District Court Judge [[Dolly M. Gee|Dolly Gee]] to alter her 2015 ruling in ''[[Reno v. Flores]]'' on the conditions of family detention by the Department of Homeland Security. The government seeks to end a 20-day limit on family detention and to end the requirement that children be held in day care centers that are state-licensed.<ref name=Gerstein>[https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-23ef-d8b4-aff7-e7efaec70000 Filing of June 21, 2018], referenced by:((Cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/21/trump-administration-flores-agreement-change-662962 |title=Trump administration asks court to alter decree to OK family detention|work=Politico |first=Josh |last=Gerstein |access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref> The DoJ filing claims that limits on detention must be ended due to "a destabilizing migratory crisis".<ref name=Gerstein/> Attorney Peter Schey, who represents the child plaintiffs in Flores, vowed to oppose the filing.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/The-Latest-Mayors-accuse-Trump-of-humanitarian-13014298.php|title=APNewsBreak: About 500 kids reunited with families since May|work=Houston Chronicle|access-date=June 27, 2018|archive-date=June 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627173345/https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/The-Latest-Mayors-accuse-Trump-of-humanitarian-13014298.php|url-status=dead))</ref> He filed an opposition on the grounds of there having been no significant change in circumstances warranting such a revision of the ruling.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-509b-d1bc-afef-5c9b2ea40001 Filing, Attorney Peter Schey], referenced by((cite news |author=Josh Gerstein|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/flores-agreement-immigrant-families-separated-689494|title=Feds: Decades-old court decree allows family immigration detention|newspaper=Politico |date=June 29, 2018|access-date=July 1, 2018))</ref> On June 29, the DoJ filed a statement that in future the Government will ″detain families together during the pendency of immigration proceedings when they are apprehended at or between ports of entry″ in place of separating them.<ref>[https://www.justice.gov/opa/case-document/file/1077076/download Filing of June 29, 2018], referenced by:((Cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/6/30/17520820/families-together-detention-separate-camp-military|title=It's official: The Trump administration has replaced family separation with indefinite family detention|work=Vox|date=June 30, 2018 |first=Dara |last=Lind |access-date=July 2, 2018))</ref>

On July 9, Judge Gee denied the government's request to hold families together indefinitely in ICE facilities, and its request to exempt detention facilities from state licensing requirements for that purpose.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/09/judge-rejects-trump-request-flores-immigrant-children-704019|title=Judge rejects Trump request to alter agreement on release of immigrant kids|last=Gerstein|first=Josh|date=July 9, 2018|work=Politico|access-date=July 10, 2018))</ref><ref name=":6">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/07/10/federal-judge-denies-trump-administrations-request-to-indefinitely-detain-families/|title=Federal judge denies Trump administration's request to indefinitely detain families|last=Flynn|first=Meagan|date=July 10, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 10, 2018))</ref> Gee wrote: "Absolutely nothing prevents Defendants from reconsidering their current blanket policy of family detention and reinstating prosecutorial discretion."<ref name=":6" /><ref>((cite news |author=Judge Dolly M. Gee |url=https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-8176-d66b-a166-8bf6cdaa0000 |title=Order Denying Defendant's Ex-Parte Application for Limited Relief from Settlement Agreement |work=Politico |date=July 9, 2018))</ref>

On August 21, 2019, the Trump administration announced it was ending the Flores Agreement and replacing it with a new policy scheduled to take place in sixty days. The new policy will allow families with children to be detained indefinitely, until their cases are decided. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have sued the Trump administration to block the administration plan to end the Flores Agreement. They claim that the new policy will result in the expansion of unlicensed detention centers allowing the administration to "set its own standards for care—in effect, licensing itself".<ref>((cite news |last1=Gonzales |first1=Richard |title=19 States And D.C. Sue Administration To Stop Indefinite Detention Of Migrant Children |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/08/26/754518950/19-states-and-dc-sue-administration-over-plan-to-detain-migrant-children-indefin |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=August 28, 2019))</ref>

== Facilities involved ==
=== During separation ===
[[File:Imagery from the Central Processing Center in McAllen TX.webm|thumb|"Imagery from the Central Processing Center in McAllen, TX"—video from [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]] Office of Public Affairs—Visual Communications Division]]
The [[Ursula (detention center)|Ursula detention facility]], operated by [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection|Customs and Border Protection]], in [[McAllen, Texas]], in the Rio Grande Valley—On June 17, 2018, the facility housed 1,129 people, including 528 families and nearly 200 unaccompanied minor children. The facility has been called "the [[Kennel|dog kennel]]" because chain link fencing is being used to create areas for those waiting to be processed, including children who have been separated from their parents. The caged areas are bare without toys or books for the children. Oregon Senator [[Jeff Merkley]] toured the facility in June and said that the parents were being told they would be separated from their children for "just a very short period—they go to a judge and then they're reunified [but] the reality is it's very hard for the parents to know where their kids are and to be able to connect with them".<ref name="Carpenter">((Cite news |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/like-inside-mcallen-border-patrol-facility/ |title=What It's Like Inside a Border Patrol Facility Where Families Are Being Separated |last=Carpenter |first=Zoë |date=June 18, 2018 |work=The Nation |access-date=June 18, 2018 |archive-date=December 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224201050/https://www.thenation.com/article/like-inside-mcallen-border-patrol-facility/ |url-status=dead ))</ref>

=== Detention of parents ===
*[[Port Isabel Detention Center]], operated by [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|Immigration and Customs Enforcement]], in [[Los Fresnos, Texas]]—This facility is surrounded by swampland and houses detained parents. Several members of Congress toured the facility in June and met with ten women who had been separated from their children. Some of them did not know where their children had been transferred to and none had been able to speak with a lawyer. One women said that she was told that her child would be put up for adoption. Rhode Island Representative [[David Cicilline]] said the women were uncontrollably sobbing.<ref name="Carpenter" />
*[[South Texas Detention Facility]], operated by the GEO Group, in [[Pearsall, Texas]]<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Government-moves-fitfully-secretly-to-reunite-13064936.php|title=Government moves fitfully, secretly to reunite sundered families|date=July 11, 2018|work=San Antonio Express-News|access-date=July 11, 2018))</ref>
*[[Eloy Detention Center]], owned and operated by [[CoreCivic]], in [[Eloy, Arizona]]—This privately run immigration jail is ringed by barbed wire and an electrified fence. In late May 2018, detained parents had counted at least forty people who had been separated from their children among the 1,500 people detained in the facility; Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not release its own figures.<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/inside-a-us-immigration-jail-mothers-count-the-days-since-theyve-seen-their-children/2018/06/28/6856d7ac-7a30-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html|title=Inside a U.S. immigration jail, mothers count the days since they've seen their children|last=Miller|first=Michael E.|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=July 9, 2018))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/migrant-mom-poised-reunite-children-new-york-shares-detention-story/|title=Migrant Mom Poised to Reunite with Children Shares Detention Story|last=Fertig|first=Beth|date=July 3, 2018|publisher=[[WNYC]]|access-date=July 9, 2018))</ref>
*[[Northwest Detention Center]] in [[Tacoma, Washington]]—Adults separated from their child relatives were transferred to this facility, which suffered a chicken pox outbreak in late June, preventing a visit by Congressman [[Derek Kilmer]].<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/texas/article/Politician-can-t-meet-with-detainees-due-to-pox-13023557.php|title=Latest: US official: Fort Bliss to house detained families|work=Beaumont Enterprise|access-date=June 26, 2018|archive-date=June 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626164304/https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/texas/article/Politician-can-t-meet-with-detainees-due-to-pox-13023557.php|url-status=dead))</ref>

=== Detention of children ===

*[[Casa Padre]], a private facility owned and operated by [[Southwest Key Programs]], in [[Brownsville, Texas]]—A housing facility for children built in a former Walmart and operated under contract for the Department of Health and Human Services. On June 13, it housed 1,469 children, a plurality of whom arrived as unaccompanied minors crossing the border. Southwest Key estimated that five percent of children held there had been separated from their parents.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/inside-casa-padre-the-converted-walmart-where-the-us-is-holding-nearly-1500-immigrant-children/2018/06/14/0cd65ce4-6eba-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html|title=Inside Casa Padre, the converted Walmart where the U.S. is holding nearly 1,500 immigrant children|last1=Miller|first1=Michael E.|date=June 14, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post |last2=Brown |first2=Emma |last3=Davis |first3=Aaron C. |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref>
*Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in [[Homestead, Florida]]—A housing facility for around 1,100 children. Approximately seventy children separated from their families are housed at the facility.<ref name=":4">((Cite news|url=http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/07/06/miami-republican-barred-from-visiting-immigrant-children-living-in-homestead-compound/|title=Miami Republican barred from visiting immigrant children living in Homestead compound |work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=July 7, 2018))</ref> The facility had been opened and closed during the Obama administration and was recently reopened.<ref name=":4" />
[[File:Homestead Florida Unaccompanied Minors.jpg|thumb|Unaccompanied minors walk in a Homestead, Florida, facility supervised by the [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]], on June 20, 2018]]
*Estrella del Norte, a private facility owned and operated by Southwest Key Programs, in [[Tucson, Arizona]]—A 300-bed housing facility for children, that housed 287 children in mid-June 2018. A former staff member described conditions in the facility as increasingly "prison-like", and recounts being told to forbid siblings without their parent from hugging one another.<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-migrant-shelter-20180614-story.html|title='Prison-like' migrant youth shelter is understaffed, unequipped for Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy, insider says|last=Hennessy-Fiske|first=Molly|date=June 14, 2018|newspaper=Los Angeles Times))</ref>
*[[Tornillo tent city]], operated by the Federal government in [[Tornillo, Texas]]—Erected in the desert at the [[Marcelino Serna Port of Entry]] in western Texas. The site was chosen for a tent camp slated to house thousands of migrant children, including both unaccompanied minors and children separated from their parents.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/14/tent-city-tornillo/|title=Trump administration makes site selection for tent city near El Paso to house immigrant children separated from parents|last=Parker|first=Claire|date=June 14, 2018|work=The Texas Tribune|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> Representative [[Beto O'Rourke]], who led a protest on Father's Day, June 17, 2018, was told that two hundred children were being detained in the camp, twenty percent of whom were separated from their parents.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/17/texas-beto-orourke-tent-city-tornillo-immigration/|title=Beto O'Rourke, Veronica Escobar lead Father's Day march on tent city housing separated immigrant children|last1=Aguilar|first1=Julian|date=June 17, 2018|work=The Texas Tribune |last2=García Hernández |first2=Juan Luis |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref>
*Three facilities in [[Combes, Texas|Combes]], [[Raymondville, Texas|Raymondville]] and [[Brownsville, Texas|Brownsville]] (Casa El President, operated by [[Southwest Key]]), in southern Texas, have been set up to hold children under five and have been referred to as "tender age shelters". Medical professionals and lawyers who visited the facilities described "play rooms" filled with preschool children crying and in crisis.<ref>((cite news |url=https://apnews.com/dc0c9a5134d14862ba7c7ad9a811160e|title=At least 3 "tender age" shelters set up for child migrants|work=Associated Press News |first1=Garance|last1=Burke|first2=Martha|last2=Mendoza|date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Colleen Kraft, the president of [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], visited the Coombs facility and said she was "shaken" by what she saw, calling it "a heartbreaking scene" and unlike anything she'd seen in her decades as a pediatrician. She termed the practice of removing the children from their parents "government-sanctioned child abuse".<ref name="Doctors" />
[[File:Jacket Message Overshadows First Lady's Visit to Migrant Children.webm|thumb|right|thumbtime=0:56|'Jacket Message Overshadows First Lady's Visit to Migrant Children', video from [[Voice of America]]]]
[[File:First Lady Melania Trump Visits Texas.webm|thumb|right|200px|'First Lady Melania Trump Visits Texas', video from the White House]]
*Upbring New Hope Children's Shelter in [[McAllen, Texas]]. As of June 21, about sixty children were housed in this facility, including six who had been separated from their parents while the remaining children had arrived alone. According to [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] President Colleen Draft, this center, like other centers, confiscates any possessions the child may arrive with and care givers are not allowed to comfort or touch the children. Following Trump's June 20 executive order to stop separating undocumented immigrant parents and their children, on June 21 First Lady Melania Trump visited this facility saying, "I'm here to learn about your facility, in which I know you house children on a long-term basis and I'd also like to ask you how I can help these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible." Critics have argued that this visit did not give the First Lady an accurate look at what many have called an unfolding crisis. She was also widely criticized for wearing a jacket that on the back stated "I Really Don't Care, Do U" when she boarded the plane for her trip to the facility.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/melania-trump-jacket.html|last=Rogers|first=Katie|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 21, 2018|title=Melania Trump Wore a Jacket Saying 'I Really Don't Care' on Her Way to Texas Shelters|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=O'Connor |first1=Lydia |title=Melania Trump Visits Texas Shelter For Undocumented Children |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/melania-trump-visits-texas-shelter-181339458.html |work=HuffPost |access-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625185838/https://www.yahoo.com/news/melania-trump-visits-texas-shelter-181339458.html |url-status=dead ))</ref>
*An [[East Harlem|East Harlem, New York]] shelter run by Cayuga Centers, Children's Village in [[Dobbs Ferry, New York]], and additional shelters in [[Long Island]], in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester]] and the [[The Bronx|Bronx]] are among nine facilities in New York state housing separated children.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/nyregion/children-separated-border-new-york.html |title=Children Taken at the Border Arrive in New York|work=The New York Times |date=June 20, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2018|last1=Robbins |first1=Liz ))</ref> In a June 22 interview New York Governor [[Andrew Cuomo]] said that he believes that HHS sent about 700 children to his state, but he is not certain because HHS has refused to release any information about the children. The Governor said that he also contacted the [[foster care]] agencies in his state in an attempt to assess the number of children and to make sure that their needs were being met, but HHS had put a [[gag order]] on the agencies and they were not able to disclose any information either. He was allowed to visit one facility and the staff there told him that the children in their care "have a high level of psychological trauma [and] anxiety disorders".<ref>((cite web |title=Governor Details Experience on CNN's New Day With John Berman |url=https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-governor-cuomo-visits-facility-housing-children-who-have-been-separated-their-parents |publisher=State of New York |access-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809122844/https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-governor-cuomo-visits-facility-housing-children-who-have-been-separated-their-parents |url-status=dead ))</ref>

=== Proposed facilities ===

[[File:B-Roll of Temporary Soft Sided Facilities Donna Texas..webm|thumb|right|thumbtime=00:08|200px|"B-Roll of Temporary Soft Sided Facilities Donna, Texas"—video from [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]] Office of Public Affairs—Visual Communications Division]]

*'''Houston facility for young children, pregnant girls, and teenage mothers'''—[[Southwest Key]] has leased a 53,600-square-foot building—419 Emancipation Avenue—formerly occupied by the non-profit Star of Hope in [[Houston|Houston, Texas]], and applied to use it as a detention center for up to 200 migrant youth "from age 0((nbs))to 17".<ref name=Kriel>((Cite news|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Immigrant-children-s-shelter-considered-for-12999084.php |title=Immigrant children's shelter considered for downtown Houston |last=Kriel |first=Lomi |date=June 15, 2018|work=Houston Chronicle|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> Advocates report that the facility would house "children younger than 12 as well as pregnant and nursing teenagers"; the Department of Health and Human Services refers to this younger age group as "tender-age children"<ref name=":02">((Cite news|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/19/houston-southwest-key-undocumented-separated-children-immigration/|title=A facility to house immigrant children is planned for Houston. City officials don't want it.|last=Platoff|first=Emma|date=June 19, 2018|work=The Texas Tribune|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Houston Mayor [[Sylvester Turner]] opposes the facility and has urged the Texas state government not to license it. At a press conference, Turner said, "I do not want to be an enabler in this process. I do not want the city to participate in this process. The health department has yet to provide a food permit or shelter permit.((nbs))... If we don't speak, if we don't say no, then these types of policies will continue."<ref name=":02" />
*Military detention camp for migrant families at [[Fort Bliss]]
*Military detention camp for migrant children on [[Goodfellow Air Force Base]]

== Reunification ==

Following the suspension of the policy in June 2018, Secretary of Health and Human Services [[Alex Azar]] testified that the Department would reunite children with their detained parents only if Congress passed legislation lifting the 20-day limit on family detention required under the [[Reno v. Flores|Flores settlement]].<ref name=Itkowitz>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/06/26/hhs-secretary-says-its-up-to-congress-to-reunite-migrant-families/|title=HHS Secretary says it's up to Congress to reunite migrant families |last=Itkowitz |first=Colby|date=June 26, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref>

On July 9, the government stated that the number of parents deported alone and the number of parents released to the United States alone were each nine, rather than 19. As of that date, two parents of children younger than five had been reunited. The government said that more than fifty parents would be reunited with their small children on July 10, and that they would be released from ICE custody into the United States after being reunited.<ref name=":7">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/2018/07/09/3a253b22-838a-11e8-8553-a3ce89036c78_story.html|title=More than 50 separated children to be reunited with parents Tuesday|last1=Sacchetti|first1=Maria|date=July 9, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post |last2=Perry|first2=Tony |access-date=July 10, 2018))</ref> DoJ lawyer Sarah Fabian said that of the 102 children, 75 were eligible for release and 27 could not be immediately be reunited for various reasons.<ref>((Cite news|first1=Maria |last1=Sacchetti |first2=Arelis R. |last2=Hernández |first3=Marissa J. |last3=Lang|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/2018/07/10/73fd24c0-8436-11e8-8553-a3ce89036c78_story.html|title=Some children are returned to parents, but judge tells Trump officials to move faster|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 10, 2018|access-date=July 11, 2018))</ref>

An HHS official reported that of the 102 children, 38 had been returned to their families by Tuesday evening, and that more reunions were to continue "throughout the night".<ref>((Cite news|author=Holly Yan, Darran Simon|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/10/politics/family-reunifications-july-10-deadline/index.html|title='A chaotic day': Officials and nonprofits try to reunite toddlers separated from parents|publisher=CNN|date=July 11, 2018|access-date=July 11, 2018))</ref> The administration gave reasons why the remaining 64 children were not united by the deadline. According to the administration, in one case, parent and child may both be US citizens.<ref>((cite web|author=Michelle Mark|url=https://www.businessinsider.de/trump-administration-family-separation-us-citizen-child-separated-2018-7|title=The Trump administration might have separated a child and parent who are both US citizens|website=Business Insider|date=July 11, 2018|access-date=July 11, 2018|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217182037/https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-family-separation-us-citizen-child-separated-2018-7?r=DE&IR=T|url-status=dead))</ref>

On July 23, the administration stated that 879 parents had been reunited with their children, another 538 have been cleared for reunification, further 463 parents had cases that were still under review, and further 454 were either considered not eligible or were not yet known to be eligible for reunification with their children. More than 450 parents may have already been deported without their children.<ref>((cite news |author=John Bacon|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/24/immigration-parents-may-have-been-deported-without-kids/824904002/|title=463 parents may have been deported without kids|newspaper=USA Today|date=July 24, 2018|access-date=July 24, 2018))</ref> On July 26, 1,637 children were deemed eligible for reunification and 711 were deemed not eligible. So far, 1,442 had been reunited. Those deemed not eligible included 431 whose parents may have been deported and 120 with parents who waived reunification.<ref>((Cite news|first=Daniel |last=Gonzalez |agency=Arizona Republic|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/26/feds-race-against-clock-reunify-immigrant-families-caught-border/844107002/|title=Feds race to reunify immigrant families separated at border to meet court-imposed deadline|newspaper=USA Today|date=July 27, 2018|access-date=July 27, 2018))</ref>

On June 26, 2018, responding to an [[ACLU]] [[class action lawsuit]], a federal judge ordered all separated children, except where not appropriate, be reunited with their parent within thirty days.<ref name="FedJudgeInjunction">((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/us/politics/family-separations-congress-states.html|title=Federal Judge in California Halts Splitting of Migrant Families at Border|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|date=June 26, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180627133903/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/us/politics/family-separations-congress-states.html|archive-date=June 27, 2018|last2=Davis|first2=Julie Hirschfeld|last3=Kaplan|first3=Thomas|last4=Pear|first4=Robert|author-link=Michael D. Shear|author-link2=Julie Hirschfeld Davis|author-link4=Robert Pear|url-access=limited))</ref><ref name="PrelimInjunctionText">((cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-3f39-d1bc-afef-7fbbdf010001| title=Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion for Classwide Preliminary Injunction], ''Ms. L., et al. v. U.S. immigration & Customs Enforcement, et al.'', Case No. 18-cv-0428 (S.D. Cal. June 26, 2018)| website=[[Politico]]))</ref>

=== Procedures to reunite families ===

[[File:DHS-HaveYouBeenSeparatedFromChild(ren).jpg |thumb|A flyer circulated by the Department of Homeland Security in 2018 offered assistance to parents separated from their children while in custody, although few migrants can speak English fluently if at all.]]

Authorities separated families without a plan to reunite them, resulting in numerous cases of parents and children having no contact since being forcefully separated.<ref name="KopanSpecificPlan"/> There were numerous reports of separated parents not being able to locate or contact their children due to lack of a proper system in place.

A ''[[The Boston Globe|Boston Globe]]'' investigation called the application of the family separation policy "opaque", reporting that Border Patrol, judges, government case workers, public defenders, and federal prosecutors had no clear answers about the reunification process or how separated parents can contact their children. Reportedly, it was difficult to reconnect children to their parents because children and parents entered two separate systems: parents were put in [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] custody and then entered the US Department of Homeland Security to face criminal prosecution while children were classified as an "unaccompanied alien child" and transferred to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Therefore, authorities no longer tracked them as a family unit and there was no system in place to reunite them.<ref name="GoodwinTool">((cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/06/09/borderseparations/Z95z4eFZjyfqCLG9pyHjAO/story.html|title='Children are being used as a tool' in Trump's effort to stop border crossings|last1=Goodwin|first1=Liz|date=June 10, 2018|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|access-date=June 18, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118032548/https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/06/09/borderseparations/Z95z4eFZjyfqCLG9pyHjAO/story.html|archive-date=January 18, 2019|url-access=limited))</ref> According to the ''Boston Globe'' report, in May 2018, parents in the [[McAllen]] facility reportedly had no phones available for their use and, when demanded, were given a false phone number to call HHS to locate their children, then were a given a number to ICE. A federal public defender working at the facility called the prospect of parents being deported without their children a "tragedy".<ref name=GoodwinTool/> [[John Sandweg]], the former head of ICE, agreed saying, "You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parent's deportation and a child's deportation is years", and that many children might never see their parents again.<ref>((cite news |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4284138/separation-children-parents-us-border-permanent/ |title=Separations of children, parents at U.S. border could be permanent: Former immigration director |date=June 19, 2018 |publisher=[[GlobalNews]] |first=Rebecca |last=Joseph))</ref> A review done by the Biden administration in 2021 found that more than 1,400 parents were ultimately deported without their children.<ref>((cite web |last1=Ordonez |first1=Franco |title=Biden To Allow Some Separated Migrant Families To Reunite In The United States |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/03/01/972562860/biden-to-allow-separated-migrant-families-to-reunite-in-the-united-states |website=NPR |date=March 2021 |access-date=March 5, 2021))</ref>

Representative [[Pramila Jayapal]] met with dozens of mothers separated from their children, and reported that in some cases, some Border Patrol agents allegedly told the mothers that "their families don't exist anymore".<ref name="autogenerated2"/> In May 2018, a Honduran man, Marco Antonio Muñoz, 39, committed suicide after his 3-year-old son was forcibly taken and separated from him by Border Patrol Agents. The man had crossed the [[Rio Grande]] with his son and his wife and turned himself and his family in to authorities to ask for asylum.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-family-was-separated-at-the-border-and-this-distraught-father-took-his-own-life/2018/06/08/24e40b70-6b5d-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html|title=A family was separated at the border, and this distraught father took his own life |first=Nick |last=Miroff|date=June 8, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post))</ref>

A journalist working for ''[[The New Yorker]]'' spoke with several women incarcerated at the [[Otero County Prison Facility|Otero County Prison]], a privately run facility in [[New Mexico]], and an attorney representing them. One mother said that she had no idea where her child was and was concerned that his medical conditions were not being attended to. Another mother said that of the fifty mothers in her wing at Otero, few knew where their children were. The public defender said the family separation policy was "changing the lawyer-client relationship," saying "clients don't even care about beating the charge they're facing. It makes it harder to represent them, because all they want is to be with their children."<ref>((cite news |last1=Blitzer |first1=Jonathan |title=Mothers in a New Mexico Prison Do Not Know How to Find Their Children |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/mothers-in-a-new-mexico-prison-do-not-know-how-to-find-their-children |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref>

Despite numerous reports of separations in which parents were not given information about their children,<ref>((cite news |last1=Blitzer |first1=Jonathan |title=The Government Has No Plan for Reuniting the Immigrant Families It Is Tearing Apart |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-government-has-no-plan-for-reuniting-the-immigrant-families-it-is-tearing-apart |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref> Senator [[James Lankford]], speaking on ''[[Meet the Press]]'' blamed "media that's not been responsible with this" for reports of difficulties locating parents or children. Calling the government personnel working for the various agencies that have been handling the separations "professionals", he said, "They know where every child is to be able to connect them to their parent or their relative that came."<ref>((cite news |title=Meet the Press—June 24, 2018 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-june-24-2018-n886131 |work=NBC News |access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref>

Following a court order by District Judge [[Dana Sabraw]] to reunite all parents with their children by July 26, 2018 it was revealed that about 500 parents had already been deported. Judge Sabraw commented, "What was lost in the process was the family. The parents didn't know where the children were, and the children didn't know where the parents were. And the government didn't know either."<ref>((cite news |title='Deleted' families: What went wrong with Trump's family-separation effort |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/deleted-families-what-went-wrong-with-trumps-family-separation-effort/2018/07/28/54bcdcc6-90cb-11e8-8322-b5482bf5e0f5_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=August 4, 2018))</ref> On August 2, the Justice Department filed in court that the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) should take responsibility for reuniting families, rather than the federal government.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/03/trump-administration-puts-burden-on-aclu-to-find-deported-parents-separated-from-children/|title=Trump administration puts burden on ACLU to find deported parents separated from children|last=Schmidt|first=Samantha|date=August 3, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|language=en|access-date=August 3, 2018))</ref> The ACLU responded by stating that while they are ready to help, the burden of responsibility for finding parents of minors separated at the border was the government's responsibility.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/03/politics/trump-administration-aclu-deported-parents/index.html|title=Judge slams Trump admin for suggesting ACLU, others should find deported parents|last1=Kopan|first1=Tal|date=August 3, 2018|work=CNN|access-date=August 3, 2018|last2=Chavez|first2=Nicole))</ref>

In February 2019, administration officials said that removing children from "sponsor" homes to rejoin their parents "would present grave child welfare concerns", and they would not focus any efforts on reuniting parents with children who had already been sent to foster homes.<ref name="apunknown"/>

== Reactions ==
=== Opposition and condemnation ===

[[File:Rally to end Family Separation Cleveland-04.jpg|thumb|A protester compares child detention by the government to [[concentration camps]]]]
[[File:Follow Free Our Future. Families Belong Together. Abolish ICE. March and Day of Action.jpg|thumb|About ten thousand people gathered in downtown Minneapolis and marched through the streets to call for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be abolished.]]

The policy attracted significant condemnation from a wide array of sources including medical, scientific, religious and human rights groups. A June 2018 survey found it to be very unpopular with the public, with approximately 25 percent of Americans supporting the policy.<ref name=Sides/> Some politicians and observers have compared the detainment of children by the US government to [[concentration camps]].<ref>((cite news |first=Mallory |last=Shelbourne |url=https://thehill.com/latino/392727-hayden-sees-commonality-between-zero-tolerance-border-policy-and-nazi-germany/ |title=Hayden sees 'commonality' between zero-tolerance border policy and Nazi Germany |work=The Hill |date=June 18, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |first=Emma |last=Teitel |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/06/20/nazi-germany-comparisons-with-family-separation-in-us-are-fair-comment.html |title=Nazi Germany comparisons with family separation in U.S. are fair comment |work=The Star |date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== Medical and scientific community ====

The policy has been condemned by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], the [[American College of Physicians]], the [[American Psychological Association]] and the [[American Psychiatric Association]], with the American Academy of Pediatrics saying that the policy has caused "irreparable harm" to the children.<ref name="Doctors">((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/health/immigrant-family-separation-doctors/index.html|title=Doctors saw immigrant kids separated from their parents. Now they're trying to stop it.|last=Shoichet|first=Catherine E.|date=June 14, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521162742/https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/health/immigrant-family-separation-doctors/index.html|archive-date=May 21, 2019|publisher=[[CNN]]))</ref><ref name=":78" /><ref>((cite web |author=American Psychological Association |date=June 14, 2018 |title=Open Letter to President Donald Trump |url=http://www.apa.org/advocacy/immigration/separating-families-letter.pdf))</ref> Together, they represent more than 250,000 doctors in the United States.<ref name="Doctors"/> Pediatrician [[Nadine Burke Harris]] described the family separation policy as "a recipe for [[toxic stress]]".<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/06/08/290091/doctors-say-kids-separated-from-parents-at-border-face-toxic-stress-serious-health-risks/ |title=Doctors Say Kids Separated From Parents At Border Face 'Toxic Stress', Serious Health Risks |publisher=Houston Public Media |author=Ashley Lopez |date=June 8, 2018 |access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref> Dr. Irwin Redlener, who co-founded [[Children's Health Fund]], called the policy "dehumanizing" and described it as a form of [[child abuse]].<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/-this-is-child-abuse-by-government-says-dr-irwin-redlener-1256853059535 |title='This is child abuse by government', says Dr. Irwin Redlener |publisher=MSNBC|date=June 15, 2018))</ref> A number of concerned researchers and clinicians signed an open letter to Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen calling on her to end the migrant child separations, writing, "Decades of psychological and brain research have demonstrated that forced parental separation and placement in incarceration-like facilities can have profound immediate, long-term, and irreparable harm on infant and child development."<ref>((cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/view/letter-to-secretary-nielsen/home?authuser=0|title=Open Letter from Concerned Scientists on Migrant Child Separation|via=sites.google.com|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== Religious groups ====

Many religious groups also oppose the policy including many Christian organizations such as: 
*The [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]]<ref>((Cite web|date=2018-06-13|title=US bishops condemn immigration policies that separate families at border|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/us-bishops-condemn-immigration-policies-separate-families-border|access-date=2020-07-03|website=National Catholic Reporter|language=en))</ref>
*The [[National Association of Evangelicals]]<ref name="abcnews1">((cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/religious-leaders-implore-trump-white-house-stop-separating/story?id=55905666|title=Religious groups implore Trump White House: Stop separating immigrant families |date=June 15, 2018|work=ABC News|access-date=June 15, 2018))</ref> 
*The [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]<ref>((cite web |last1=Papagermanos |first1=Steve |title=Archdiocese Statement in Defense of Children and Families |url=https://www.goarch.org/-/archdiocese-statement-in-defense-of-children-and-families |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>
*[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]<ref>((Cite web|date=2018-07-24|title=Family Separation Update|url=https://episcopalchurch.org/posts/ogr/family-separation-update|access-date=2020-07-03|website=Episcopal Church|language=en))</ref>
*[[United Methodist Church]]<ref>((Cite web|title=Faith leaders' statement on family separation|url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/faith-leaders-statement-on-family-separation|access-date=2020-07-03|website=The United Methodist Church|language=en))</ref>
*[[African Methodist Episcopal Church]]<ref>((Cite web|last=Church|first=A. M. E.|date=2018-06-15|title=COB Statement RE: Condemning Immigrant Family Separation|url=https://www.ame-church.com/news/cob-statement-re-condemning-immigrant-family-separation/|access-date=2020-07-03|website=AME Church|language=en-US))</ref>
*[[Presbyterian Church (USA)|Presbyterian Church]]<ref>((Cite web|title=Family Detention and Family Separation|url=https://oga.pcusa.org/section/mid-council-ministries/immigration/family-detention/|access-date=2020-07-03|website=oga.pcusa.org|language=en))</ref>
*[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America|Evangelical Lutheran Church]]<ref>((Cite web|title=ELCA presiding bishop, faith leaders issue statement on family separation|url=https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7935|access-date=2020-07-03|website=www.elca.org|language=en))</ref>
*[[United Church of Christ]]<ref>((Cite web|last=Page|first=Drew|title=UCC delegates approve call to protect immigrant children and families|url=https://www.ucc.org/news_ucc_delegates_approve_call_to_protect_immigrant_children_and_families_06222019|access-date=2020-07-03|website=United Church of Christ|language=en|archive-date=November 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126094641/https://www.ucc.org/news_ucc_delegates_approve_call_to_protect_immigrant_children_and_families_06222019|url-status=dead))</ref>
*[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]<ref>((cite press release|title=Church Statement on Separation of Families at the US-Mexico Border|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-statement-separation-of-families-at-us-mexico-border |publisher=Mormon Newsroom |date=June 18, 2018|access-date=June 29, 2018))</ref>

In response to a criticism of the policy by a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Jeff Sessions]] defended the policy, citing the Bible.<ref name="Long">((Cite news|author=Colleen Long|url=https://www.apnews.com/0bcc5d5d077247769da065864d215d1b/Sessions-cites-Bible-to-defend-separating-immigrant-families|title=Sessions cites Bible to defend separating immigrant families|publisher=Associated Press |date=June 15, 2018|access-date=July 3, 2018))</ref><ref name=Zauzmer15 /> On June 18, a group of more than 600 [[United Methodist Church]] clergy and laity announced that they were bringing [[Ecclesiastical court#United Methodist Church|church law charges]] against Attorney General [[Jeff Sessions]]. The members of the group accused Sessions of "child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of the doctrine of the United Methodist Church".<ref>((cite news |url=http://www.wsfa.com/story/38450661/faith-leaders-call-family-separation-cruel-and-detrimental|title=Hundreds of United Methodist clergy bring church charges against Jeff Sessions|publisher=WSFA 12 News |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> The last charge refers to Sessions' "misuse" of [[Romans 13]], which he quoted to argue that secular law must always be obeyed.<ref>((cite web |author=640 laity and clergy of the United Methodist Church |url=http://s3.amazonaws.com/Website_Properties/news-media/documents/A_Complaint_regarding_Jefferson_Sessions.pdf |title=A Complaint regarding Jefferson Sessions |date=July 18, 2018 |access-date=July 6, 2018))</ref>

All four major denominations of American Judaism oppose the policy:
*[[Union for Reform Judaism|Reform]]
*[[United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism|Conservative]]
*[[Orthodox Union|Orthodox]]
*[[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]]<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.jta.org/2018/06/17/news-opinion/united-states/orthodox-union-joins-jewish-communal-letter-opposing-family-separations|title=Orthodox Union joins Jewish communal letter opposing family separations|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=June 17, 2018))</ref>

Islamic organizations also oppose the policy.<ref>((cite web|url=https://advocacy.episcopalchurch.org/app/document/28873301?0|title=Presiding Bishop Michael Curry Joins Other Faith Leaders in a Statement on Family Separation at Our Borders|publisher=Office of Government Relations, [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]|date=June 13, 2018|access-date=June 15, 2018|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208080033/https://advocacy.episcopalchurch.org/app/document/28873301?0|url-status=dead))</ref>

[[Pope Francis]] supports statements by US Catholic bishops who had called the policy "contrary to our Catholic values" and "immoral", adding "It's not easy, but [[populism]] is not the solution."<ref>((cite news|title=Pope Francis Slams Trump's Family Separation Policy As 'Immoral'|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-trump-family-separation_us_5b2a3458e4b0a4dc9922a221|agency=Reuters|work=[[HuffPost]]|date=June 20, 2018|access-date=June 29, 2018))</ref>

Evangelist [[Franklin Graham]], son of evangelist [[Billy Graham]], called the practice "disgraceful" and said that "it's terrible to see families ripped apart and I don't support that one bit." Graham did not, however, attach blame to Trump or his administration, but rather blamed "the politicians for the last 20–30 years that have allowed this to escalate to where it is today".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/trump-immigration-religion.html |title=Conservative Religious Leaders Are Denouncing Trump Immigration Policies|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 14, 2018))</ref>

==== Academia ====

Many professors and administrators in colleges and universities have likened the policy to the [[internment of Japanese Americans]] during World War II.<ref name="CHE">((Cite news|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/College-LeadersProfessors/243714|title=College Leaders and Professors Ramp Up Protest of Trump's Family-Separation Policy|date=June 19, 2018|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Open letters signed by various scholars denounced the policy and called for its halt.<ref name="CHE"/><ref>((Cite web |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1imbob01ErX1NVY6JC_wmlnxfea3MmWUa/view|title=Letter to DHS from Faculty.pdf|via=Google Docs|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== Civil rights and humanitarian groups ====

A large number of civil rights groups, humanitarian organizations, and other groups condemned the family separation policy, including the [[Anti-Defamation League]], the [[Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law]], the [[League of Women Voters of the United States]], the [[International Rescue Committee]], the [[NAACP]], and the [[National Immigration Law Center]].<ref>((cite web |url=http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/policy/letters/2018/Org%20Letter%20to%20President%20Trump%20re%20Family%20Separation%2006-08-2018.pdf |title=Letter to President Trump from National, State, and Local Organizations |website=[[Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights]] |date=June 8, 2018))</ref>

The [[Tahirih Justice Center]] has criticized that the policy of charging asylum seekers with a criminal offense, and subsequent separation of families, is contrary to [[Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees#Rights and responsibilities of parties to the Refugee Convention|Article 31 of the Refugee Convention]]. This Article prohibits any party to the Convention from imposing penalties on asylum seekers on account of their illegal entry or presence, provided the asylum seekers present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.<ref name="texasmonthly-2018-06-15"/> Thus according to international law, such asylum seekers are not liable to criminal prosecution for illegal entry. The United States ratified the 1967 Protocol of the Refugee Convention in 1968, and thereby obliged itself to adhere to Articles((nbs))2 through 34 of the Convention.<ref>((cite web|first1=Joan|last1=Fitzpatrick|url=https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=bjil|title=The International Dimension of U.S. Refugee Law|access-date=July 3, 2018|archive-date=November 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101095831/https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=bjil|url-status=dead)) Footnote 1 on page 1.</ref>

The director for the Americas at the International Secretariat of [[Amnesty International]], [[Erika Guevara Rosas]], has said that the "severe mental suffering that officials have intentionally inflicted on these families for coercive purposes, means that these acts meet the definitions of [[torture]] under both US and international law".<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/usa-family-separation-torture/|title=USA: Policy of separating children from parents is nothing short of torture|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|date=June 19, 2018|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref>

==== Congress ====

Forty Democratic United States Senators sent a letter to Trump urging him to "rescind this unethical, ineffective, and inhumane policy and instead prioritize approaches that align with our humanitarian and American values".<ref>((Cite news|url=http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/06/15/nelson-rubio-oppose-breaking-up-immigrant-families/|title=Nelson, Rubio oppose breaking up immigrant families|last=Leary|first=Alex|work=Tampa Bay Times|date=June 15, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=https://www.billnelson.senate.gov/sites/default/files/20180607%20Dem%20Letter%20to%20Trump%20Child%20Separation.pdf|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20180707033022/https://www.billnelson.senate.gov/sites/default/files/20180607%20Dem%20Letter%20to%20Trump%20Child%20Separation.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 7, 2018|title=Letter to President Donald Trump from 40 Democratic U.S. Senators on Child Separation|date=June 7, 2018|access-date=June 15, 2018))</ref> In response to the policy, Senator [[Dianne Feinstein]] introduced a bill, Keep Families Together Act (S. 3036), under which the separation of a child from its parents would be allowed only under very specific conditions.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3036|title=S.3036—Keep Families Together Act|date=June 7, 2018|publisher=US Congress |access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |first=Justin L. |last=Mack |url=https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/06/18/sen-joe-donnelly-cosponsor-keep-families-together-act-immigration-reform/709409002/ |title=Sen. Joe Donnelly cosponsoring bill to fight separation of families at the border |work=Indianapolis Star |date=June 18, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |first=Kathryn |last=Watson |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feinstein-says-shes-introduced-bill-to-keep-immigrant-families-together/ |title=Feinstein says she's introduced bill to keep immigrant families together |work=CBS News |date=June 8, 2018))</ref> By June 18, the entire Democratic caucus of 49 senators (including the two independents who caucus with the Democrats) had signed on as cosponsors.<ref>((cite web |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-joe-manchin-the-final-democratic-holdout-signs-onto-bill-to-stop-family-separations|title=Sen. Joe Manchin, the Final Democratic Holdout, Signs Onto Bill to Stop Family Separations|last=Resnick|first=Gideon|date=June 18, 2018|website=The Daily Beast|access-date=June 18, 2018))</ref>

Republicans in Congress fell into four groups on the child-separation policy:
*The vast majority of Republicans in Congress kept silent on the policy, seeking to avoid a confrontation with Trump.<ref name="Phillips">Amber Phillips, ((cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/19/is-trump-losing-his-support-in-congress-for-separating-families-at-the-border/ |last=Phillips |first=Amber |title=How Republicans are divided over Trump's immigration policy: For it, against it and keeping their mouths shut |work=The Washington Post'|date=June 19, 2018))</ref> 
*Other congressional Republicans, such as Representative [[Steve King]] of [[Iowa]], supported the policy.<ref name="Phillips"/> 
*Some congressional Republicans, such as Senator [[Dean Heller]] of [[Nevada]] and Representative [[Kevin Cramer]] of [[North Dakota]], expressed disagreement with the policy but avoided strongly criticizing Trump.<ref name="Phillips"/> 
*Another group of congressional Republicans were strongly critical of the policy, including members who are frequent Trump critics (for example, Senators [[Jeff Flake]], [[John McCain]], [[Ben Sasse]], and [[Susan Collins]]), but also some who are usually aligned with Trump (for example, Senator [[Orrin Hatch]]).<ref name="Phillips"/>

Republican Senator [[Ted Cruz]] initially defended the policy in a June 11 interview.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/391699-cruz-defends-trump-policy-of-family-separation/|title=Cruz defends Trump policy of family separation|last=Sanchez|first=Luis|date=June 11, 2018|work=The Hill|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> On June 18, despite his previous support of the policy, Cruz announced that he would introduce his own legislation, criticizing the Democrats' bill as "returning to the failed policy of '[[Catch and release (immigration practice)|catch and release]](('")).<ref name=Krisitian>((cite magazine|url=https://theweek.com/speedreads/779979/ted-cruz-introduces-bill-curtail-migrant-family-separation-must-stop-now|title=Ted Cruz introduces bill to curtail migrant family separation: 'This must stop. Now.' |last=Krisitian |first=Bonnie|date=June 19, 2018|magazine=The Week |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Cruz said his bill would end the separation policy by authorizing the construction of shelters to house families, expedite asylum cases, and increase the number of federal immigration judges.<ref name=Krisitian/><ref>((Cite news|url=https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/cruz-promises-bill-to-deal-with-border-crisis|title=Cruz promises bill to deal with border crisis|agency=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[KFOX-TV|KFOX 14 News]]|date=June 18, 2018|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> [[Senate Minority Leader]] [[Chuck Schumer]] criticized Cruz's proposal, arguing that the Republicans would include "unacceptable additions" and instead urged Trump to end the policy using an executive order.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/393069-schumer-rejects-gop-proposal-to-address-border-crisis/amp/|title=Schumer rejects GOP proposal to address border crisis|last=Balluck|first=Kyle|date=June 19, 2018|work=The Hill|access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

In February 2019, Democratic Representative for Illinois [[Jan Schakowsky]] described the family separation policy as "state-sponsored child abuse [and] kidnapping of children".<ref name="auto5">((cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-official-says-his-agency-would-never-have-supported-n969036|title=Trump administration official says his agency would never 'have supported' family separations|work=[[NBC News]]|access-date=February 8, 2019))</ref>

==== Governors ====

In early 2018, Trump requested that [[Governor (United States)|state governors]] send [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] troops to the US–Mexico border. In response to the family-separation policy, at least eight governors either recalled [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] troops from the US–Mexico border or declined to send them to the border. States that withdrew troops, reversed plans to send troops, or declined to send troops were [[New York (state)|New York]], [[North Carolina]], [[Virginia]], [[Colorado]], [[Delaware]], and [[Rhode Island]] (which all had Democratic governors) and [[Maryland]] and [[Massachusetts]] (which both had Republican governors).<ref name="HaagBidgood">((cite news |first1=Matthew |last1=Haag |first2=Jess |last2=Bidgood |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/national-guard-trump-children-immigration.html |title=Governors Refuse to Send National Guard to Border, Citing Child Separation Practice |work=The New York Times |date=June 19, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626080031/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/national-guard-trump-children-immigration.html |url-status=dead ))</ref> Democratic Governor [[John Carney (Delaware politician)|John Carney]] of Delaware, for example, said "Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't hesitate to answer the call. But given what we know about the policies currently in effect at the border, I can't in good conscience send Delawareans to help with that mission."<ref name="HaagBidgood"/> (Some additional states—Vermont and Oregon—had declined Trump's request before the family-separation policy had been implemented.)<ref name="HaagBidgood"/>

Among Republican governors, some supported Trump's policy of separating families (Phil Bryant of Mississippi, [[Henry McMaster]] of South Carolina), while others opposed the policy ([[Pete Ricketts]] of Nebraska, [[Bruce Rauner]] of Illinois, [[John Kasich]] of [[Ohio]]).<ref name="HaagBidgood"/><ref name=Higgins>((cite news |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/5-governors-wont-keep-national-guard-on-the-border.html|title=At least 5 governors won't keep National Guard on the southern border, citing Trump's family separation policy|publisher=[[CNBC]]|date=June 19, 2018|last=Higgins|first=Tucker|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== UN and international bodies ====

The policy has also been condemned by the [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]].<ref name="nytimes1"/><ref name="press1"/> High Commissioner [[Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein]] called it an "unconscionable" effort by a state to deter parents by abusing children.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/un-human-rights-chief-family-separations-forced-by-trump-administration-are-child-abuse/|title=The UN human rights chief just accused Donald Trump of child abuse|work=Mother Jones|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref>

[[United Nations special rapporteur]]s from the [[United Nations Human Rights Council|Human Rights Council]] have also condemned the policy, and have stated that detention of children "is punitive, severely hampers their development, and in some cases may amount to torture". The rapporteurs have called its rescission insufficient.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/un-trump-children-family-torture-separation-border-mexico-border-ice-detention-a8411676.html|title=UN says Trump separation of migrant children from parents 'may amount to torture'|work=The Independent|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref><ref name="ochre-2018-06-22">((cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23245&LangID=E|publisher=OHCHR |title=UN experts to US: 'Release migrant children from detention and stop using them to deter irregular migration' |access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref>

The [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] has formally requested additional information from the US government on the location and plans for affected children.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2018/06/25/the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-demands-answers-from-trump-administration-over-separation-of-families-separated-in-texas|title=The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Demands Answers from Trump Administration over Separation of Families Separated in Texas|last=Nowlin|first=Sanford|work=San Antonio Current|access-date=June 26, 2018|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809120853/https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2018/06/25/the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-demands-answers-from-trump-administration-over-separation-of-families-separated-in-texas|url-status=dead))</ref>

==== Others ====

All four living former [[first ladies of the United States]]—[[Rosalynn Carter]], [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Laura Bush]], and [[Michelle Obama]]—condemned the policy of separating children from their parents.<ref>((cite news |first1=Matt |last1=Stevens |first2=Sarah |last2=Mervosh |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/politics/first-ladies-trump-family-separation.html |title=All four Living Former First Ladies Condemn Trump Border Policy That Separates Families |work=The New York Times |date=June 19, 2018))</ref> First Lady [[Melania Trump]]'s office issued a statement saying, "[Mrs. Trump] believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart."<ref>((Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/17/politics/melania-trump-children-separated-immigration/index.html|title=Melania Trump 'hates to see' children separated from their families at borders |author=Kate Bennett |publisher=CNN|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> Laura Bush wrote an op-ed in [[The Boston Globe]] condemning the use of practices "reminiscent of the internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history".<ref>((cite news |author=Laura Bush |title=Separating children from their parents at the border 'breaks my heart' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/laura-bush-separating-children-from-their-parents-at-the-border-breaks-my-heart/2018/06/17/f2df517a-7287-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref>

A bipartisan group of 75 former [[United States Attorneys|US attorneys]] published an [[open letter]] to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling for an end to the policy, writing that the policy inflicts "unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children" and "is a radical departure from previous Justice Department policy" that "is dangerous, expensive, and inconsistent with the values of the institution in which we served".<ref name="Miller">((cite news |first=Hayley |last=Miller |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-attorneys-jeff-sessions-family-separation_us_5b28ef60e4b0a4dc9920a0ba |title=75 Former U.S. Attorneys To Jeff Sessions: End Inhumane Family Separation Policy Now |work=Huffington Post |date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref name="USALtr">((cite web |author=Former U.S. Attorneys |title=Bipartisan Group of Former United States Attorneys Call on Sessions to End Family Separation |work=Medium |date=June 19, 2018|url=https://medium.com/@formerusattorneys/bipartisan-group-of-former-united-states-attorneys-call-on-sessions-to-end-child-detention-e129ae0df0cf))</ref> The former US attorneys also pointed out that the policy is not required by law.<ref name="Miller"/><ref name="USALtr"/> An employment law firm offered free legal advice to federal and state workers who refused to enforce the policy.<ref name="MSNBC.com 2018">((cite news|title=Conscientious objectors to Trump border policy get free legal aid|publisher=[[MSNBC]]|date=22 June 2018 |url=https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/conscientious-objectors-to-trump-border-policy-get-free-legal-aid-1261516355689|access-date=15 March 2019))</ref><ref name="The Stranger 2018">((cite news|title=Federal Employees Who Want to Buck Trump's Family Separation Policy Can Now Receive Free Legal Advice|work=[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]]|date=20 June 2018 |url=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/06/20/27874675/federal-employees-who-want-to-buck-trumps-family-separation-policy-can-now-receive-free-legal-advice|access-date=15 March 2019))</ref>

''[[Fox News]]'' commentator [[Andrew Napolitano]] has criticised the policy, stating that he believes that "it is child abuse to separate children from their parents unless it's necessary to save a human life((nbs))... there's a federal statute that says you can't separate them more than 72 hours."<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.mediaite.com/tv/andrew-napolitano-says-trump-is-trying-to-use-children-as-negotiating-chip-its-child-abuse/|title=Andrew Napolitano: Trump is 'Trying to Use Children' as Negotiating Chip, Policy is 'Child Abuse'|publisher=mediaite |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> News anchor [[Jorge Ramos (news anchor)|Jorge Ramos]] declared that the policy violated both Article((nbs))1 of the [[United Nations Convention against Torture]] (UNCAT) that forbids torture, and Article((nbs))9 of the [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] (CRC) that states that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will. The US has signed and ratified the UNCAT, and signed but not yet ratified the CRC.<ref>((cite magazine|url=http://time.com/5317551/family-separation-policy-torture/|title=Jorge Ramos: Yes, the Family Separation Policy Is Torture|magazine=Time|date=June 20, 2018|access-date=July 6, 2018))</ref>

Family separations were widely condemned in the business community, including by conservative groupings like the [[United States Chamber of Commerce]] and the [[Business Roundtable]].<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-separated-families.html|title=G.O.P. Moves to End Trump's Family Separation Policy, but Can't Agree How|access-date=June 21, 2018|archive-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124145005/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-separated-families.html|url-status=dead))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/a-koch-backed-group-and-other-business-leaders-are-calling-on-trump-to-end-policy-on-family-separation.html|title=Trump should end policy on family separation, says Koch-backed group and business leaders|last=Schwartz|first=Brian|date=June 19, 2018|publisher=CNBC|access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

On June 20, 2018, three airlines—[[American Airlines]], [[United Airlines]] and [[Frontier Airlines]]—each issued a statement requesting the federal government not to use their planes to transport migrant children who were taken from their parents.<ref>((cite news |author=Jackie Wattles, Rene Marsh|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/20/news/companies/american-airlines-children-detention-border-trump/index.html|title=Airlines ask the government not to fly separated children on their planes|publisher=CNNMoney |date=June 20, 2018|access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref> The previous day, a veteran flight attendant for a major airline recounted an episode in which an [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] agent initially told another flight attendant that the migrant children on their flight were members of a soccer team, but "when pressed, the agent finally admitted that they were, indeed children who were being relocated to assigned camps".<ref>((cite news |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/Flight-attendant-I-won-t-work-flights-that-13008372.php|title=Flight attendant: I won't work flights that separate immigrant kids from families|newspaper=Houston Chronicle |access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

In February 2019, Commander Jonathan White of the Department of Health and Human Services testified that neither he nor his long-term colleagues within the Office of Refugee Resettlement would have supported a policy that would result in the separation of children and parents. He also testified that when, in February 2017, before the implementation of the policy, he had raised concerns about the prospect of family separations, he was consistently told that no such policy was pending.<ref name="auto5"/>

==== Protests ====

((Main|Protests against Trump administration family separation policy))
[[File:Rally to end Family Separation Cleveland-03.jpg|thumb|Rally to end family separation in [[Cleveland]], Ohio (June 30, 2018)]]

Beginning in June 2018, protests were held in numerous cities across the nation as plans for larger nationwide protests were being formulated. On June 30, a national protest organized by the newly-formed group "Keep Families Together" was held which drew hundreds of thousands of protesters from all fifty states to demonstrate in more than 600 towns and cities. Approximately 30,000 marchers crossing the [[Brooklyn Bridge]] in New York City, chanted, "Immigrants built this bridge." Some demonstration speakers stressed the urgent need for political activism. In Atlanta Representative [[John Lewis]] spoke saying, "We've got to get out and vote like we never voted before." [[Lin-Manuel Miranda]] performed for the protesters, singing a song from his musical ''Hamilton'', and commented, "We will not stand for a country separating children from their families, and if you are silent on that issue, or you are somehow for that issue you're not getting re-elected."<ref name="nbcnews1">((cite news |title=Thousands across U.S. join 'Keep Families Together' march to protest family separation |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/thousands-across-u-s-join-keep-families-together-march-protest-n888006 |work=NBC News |access-date=July 1, 2018))</ref>

==== Fundraising response ====

Inspired by a [[John Moore photograph of Honduran child|viral photo of a crying two-year-old girl looking up at her mother]], on June 16, 2018, a California couple started a fund-raising campaign on [[Facebook]] named "Reunite an immigrant parent with their child" with a goal of raising $1,500.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/nation-now/facebook-fundraiser-to-help-immigrant-children-tops-17-million-with-donations-from-around-the-world/465-1d7fe37e-e88c-4dd4-b984-2f7acfe24241|title=Facebook fundraiser to help immigrant children tops $17 million with donations from around the world|publisher=WFAA|access-date=June 22, 2018|archive-date=December 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217113845/https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/nation-now/facebook-fundraiser-to-help-immigrant-children-tops-17-million-with-donations-from-around-the-world/465-1d7fe37e-e88c-4dd4-b984-2f7acfe24241|url-status=dead))</ref> Within the first few days the campaign was raising over $4,000 a minute and in a little over a week's time it had raised over $20 million, breaking a Facebook record for donations.<ref>((cite news |title=The campaign raising money to reunite immigrant families has topped $20 million. It's on to $25 million now |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/us/raices-fundraiser-20-million-trnd/index.html |work=CNN|access-date=June 28, 2018))</ref> The money will go to the [[Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services]], or RAICES, and provide legal aid for immigrant parents who have been arrested at the border.<ref>((cite news |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Bill |title=Facebook campaign tops $4 million to reunite immigrant families separated at border |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/facebook-campaign-tops-million-reunite-immigrant-families-separated/story?id=55997665 |publisher=ABC |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref>

The photograph was taken by professional photographer, John Moore, just after the mother was asked to set her child down to be body-searched before boarding the Border Patrol van and the little girl began to cry. The mother is from [[Honduras]] and had been traveling for a month.<ref>((cite news |title=This 2-year-old has become the face of 'zero tolerance' |url=https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/06/us/crying-girl-john-moore-immigration-cnnphotos/ |work=CNN|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> The photo raised controversy after the father of the child said in an interview that the mother and daughter were now being detained together in McAllen, Texas. This has caused many in Trump's administration to rally against "fake news" with [[Sarah Huckabee Sanders|White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders]] tweeting that the Democrats and media "exploited this photo of a little girl to push their own agenda".<ref name="BBC22">((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44578339|title=Child migrant photo 'not what it seemed'|date=June 22, 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref>

==== Public opinion ====

The family-separation policy is unpopular among Americans, as shown by four polls; on average, two-thirds of Americans oppose the policy.<ref name="Mehta">((Cite web |first=Dhrumil |last=Mehta |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/separating-families-at-the-border-is-really-unpopular/ |title=Separating Families At The Border Is Really Unpopular |work=[[FiveThirtyEight]] |date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref name="cnnpollseparation">((cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/18/politics/immigration-trump-approval/index.html|title=Majority oppose policy that causes family separation, but Republicans approve|last=Sparks|first=Grace|work=CNN|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref name="Quinnipiacpollseparation">((cite web|url=https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2550|title=QU Poll Release Detail|publisher=Quinnipiac University |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> There is a strong partisan divide; the average of polls showed that Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed to the policy (8% support, 87% oppose, 5% other) while a plurality of Republicans favor it (49% support, 35% oppose, 16% other).<ref name="Mehta"/> Trump's approval rating fell to 41 percent, with a 55 percent disapproval rating according to a Gallup poll following increased public awareness of the policy.<ref name=Jones>((cite web |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/235955/trump-job-approval-slips-back.aspx?g_source=link_NEWSV9&g_medium=LEAD&g_campaign=item_&g_content=Trump%2520Job%2520Approval%2520Slips%2520Back%2520to%252041%2525|title=Trump Job Approval Slips Back to 41%|publisher=Gallup|date=June 25, 2018|last=Jone|first=Jeffrey|access-date=June 26, 2018))</ref><ref name=Goodkind>((cite magazine |url=http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-migrant-children-994971|title=Donald Trump's Approval Rating Sees Record-equaling Drop Amid Migrant Children Separation Crisis |magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=June 25, 2018|last=Goodkind|first=Nicole|access-date=June 26, 2018))</ref>

==== White House ====

According to a report by [[Gabriel Sherman]], the policy caused "chaos" and infighting among the White House staff and advisers. [[Sarah Huckabee Sanders]] was "frustrated" according to one of her friends. On the other hand, according to one White House adviser, [[Stephen Miller (political advisor)|Stephen Miller]] "actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border", referring to the photographs of children separated from their parents.<ref>((cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/stephen-miller-family-separation-white-house/amp|title='Stephen Actually Enjoys Seeing Those Pictures at the Border': The West Wing Is Fracturing Over Trump's Callous Migrant-Family Policy|magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=June 21, 2018))</ref>

=== Support ===

[[Sarah Huckabee Sanders|White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders]], [[Chuck Grassley|Senator Chuck Grassley]] and [[Paul Ryan|House Speaker Paul Ryan]] have asserted that the Trump administration are required to separate migrant families due to the 1997 [[Reno v. Flores|''Flores'' settlement]],<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/flores_settlement_final_plus_extension_of_settlement011797.pdf|title=Reno vs. Flores|date=January 7, 1997|publisher=[[American Civil Liberties Union]]|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref name=Qiu>((Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/politics/fact-check-republicans-family-separations-border.html |title=Republicans Misplace Blame for Splitting Families at the Border |first=Linda |last=Qiu |work=The New York Times |date=June 14, 2018))</ref> which requires that unaccompanied minors be released to their parents or relatives, and if a relative cannot be found then a government agency can appoint an appropriate guardian for the child.<ref name=Qiu/><ref name=RealityCheck>((cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44303556 |title=Who decided to separate illegal immigrant families? |date=June 19, 2018 |work=BBC News |author=Reality Check |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> Trump administration officials also cited the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), a 2008 anti-human trafficking statute, as a justification for the policy.<ref name=RealityCheck/> Neither the ''Flores'' settlement nor the TVPRA, however, require or recommend family separations.<ref name=RealityCheck/><ref name=Rizzo/>

Following Trump's executive order ending family separation [[David A. French|David French]] criticized the Democrat's position saying, "those of us with a trace of historical memory know that the Trump administration is merely asking the courts and Congress to adopt the Obama administration's legal position.((nbs))... But despite this victory, Democrats are still furious. It's not enough to stop child separation. Now, they want to prevent family detention entirely."<ref>((cite web |last1=French |first1=David |title=Trump Moves to Obama's Position on Family Detention, Democrats Outraged |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/donald-trump-family-separation-executive-order-obama-policy/ |work=[[National Review]] |date=June 21, 2018 |access-date=August 3, 2018))</ref> Conservative commentator [[Ann Coulter]] on June 17 dismissed immigrant children as "child actors weeping and crying" and urged Trump not to "fall for it".<ref>((cite news |last1=Thomsen |first1=Jacqueline |title=Ann Coulter calls immigrant children 'child actors' |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/392774-ann-coulter-calls-immigrant-children-child-actors/ |newspaper=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Fox News television host [[Laura Ingraham]] on June 18, 2018, described the facilities where migrant children were housed as "essentially summer camps".<ref>((Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/392922-laura-ingraham-describes-child-detention-centers-as-essentially-summer-camps/|title=Laura Ingraham: Migrant child detention centers 'essentially summer camps'|last=Anapol|first=Avery|date=June 18, 2018|work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/laura-ingraham-immigrant-summer-camp_us_5b28b769e4b0f0b9e9a4840c|title=Laura Ingraham Compares Child Immigrant Detention Centers To Summer Camps|last=Frej|first=Willa|date=June 19, 2018|work=[[Huffington Post]]|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> She described criticism of the immigration policies as "faux liberal outrage".<ref>((cite news |title=Ingraham: Trump Enforcing Immigration Laws Long 'Ignored and Unenforced' |url=http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/06/18/ingraham-angle-trump-enforcing-immigration-laws-border |publisher=[[Fox News]] |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

''[[Fox & Friends]]'' co-host [[Brian Kilmeade]] defended Trump's family separation policy, arguing that migrant children are being treated as though they are more important than "people in our country who pay taxes and have needs as well". He states, "Like it or not, these aren't our kids. Show them compassion, but it's not like [Trump is] doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country."<ref>((cite news|url=https://thehill.com/latino/393616-fox-friends-host-on-separated-children-these-arent-our-kids/ |title='Fox & Friends' host on detained children: 'These aren't our kids' |newspaper=The Hill |date=June 22, 2018 |access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref>

=== Trump administration response ===

On June 19, 2018, a fact checker for ''[[The Washington Post]]'' critiqued a number of statements by Trump and members of his administration, characterizing them as "[[Orwellian|Orwellian stuff]]" and designating them as Four Pinocchios—the Post's highest rating of falsehood.<ref name=Rizzo>((cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/19/the-facts-about-trumps-policy-of-separating-families-at-the-border/|title=Analysis—The facts about Trump's policy of separating families at the border|first=Salvador|last=Rizzo|date=June 19, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> The Trump administration had offered at least 14 contradictory statements about its policy, including contradictions about whether it was a Justice Department policy, whether separations are a deterrent, whether there was a prepared process to separate families, and whether separations are required by law. Trump has also said that he could not reverse his administration's policy via executive order, while later writing an executive order to reverse the policy.<ref>((cite news |last1=Rieger |first1=J. M. |title=The Trump administration changed its story on family separation no fewer than 14 times before ending the policy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/20/the-trump-administration-changed-its-story-on-family-separation-no-fewer-than-14-times-before-ending-the-policy/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=June 23, 2018))</ref>

==== President Donald Trump ====

Trump said in response to the situation: "I hate to see separation of parents and children((nbs))... I hate the children being taken away." Trump has blamed the Democrats for "that law" (also calling it "their law"<ref name=Davis/> and "the horrible law")<ref>((cite tweet |user=realDonaldTrump |number=1000375761604370434 |date=May 26, 2018 |title=Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180601011458/https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1000375761604370434|archive-date=2018-06-01|url-status=dead))</ref> on a number of occasions despite there being no law to mandate the separation of migrant parents and children.<ref>((cite news |first1=Tal |last1=Kopan |first2=Lauren |last2=Fox |first3=Phil |last3=Mattingly |title=Trump again falsely blames the Democrats for his administration's family separations|publisher=CNN|date=June 16, 2018|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/15/politics/family-separation-democrats-trump/index.html |quote='The Democrats forced that law upon our nation,' Trump told reporters.))</ref><ref name=Davis>((cite news|author=Julie Hirschfeld Davis|title=Trump Again Falsely Blames Democrats for His Separation Tactic|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 16, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/politics/trump-democrats-separation-policy.html |quote='I hate the children being taken away', Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday in front of the White House during a 45-minute impromptu question-and-answer session on a wide range of topics. 'The Democrats have to change their law—that's their law.'))</ref> The Trump administration's own "[[zero tolerance]]" policy, announced on April 6, 2018, is responsible for spurring the separations.<ref name=WoodwardSpagat>((cite news |last1=Woodward |first1=Calvin |last2=Spagat |first2=Elliot |title=Trump assails Dems for his own migrant policy |url=https://apnews.com/c597b0fafa194f9d8ab23238c9b7be86 |access-date=June 17, 2018))</ref> Trump also said he "certainly wouldn't sign the more moderate" immigration bill proposed by leaders of the House of Representatives with input from moderate Republicans and the White House.<ref>((cite web |last1=Lind |first1=Dara |title=Trump just said he 'certainly wouldn't sign' an immigration bill his White House helped write |url=https://www.vox.com/2018/6/15/17467638/immigration-bill-trump-congress |website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date=June 15, 2018))</ref>

On June 20, 2018, Trump announced that he would sign an executive order to end family separations, saying "We're going to keep families together but we still have to maintain toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime." He did so later the same day.<ref>((cite news |first1=Scott |last1=Detrow |first2=Kelsey |last2=Snell |first3=Miles |last3=Parks |title=Trump Says He Will Sign Order To End Family Separations |work=NPR |date=June 16, 2018|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/06/20/621798823/speaker-ryan-plans-immigration-votes-amid-doubts-that-bills-can-pass))</ref>

On June 22, 2018, Trump sent a tweet saying that congressional Republicans should "stop wasting their time on immigration" and should wait until after the November midterm elections to pass immigration legislation.<ref>((cite news |author=Veronica Stracqualursi|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/22/politics/trump-immigration-midterms/index.html|title=Trump says GOP should 'stop wasting their time on immigration' until after midterms|publisher=CNN|date=June 22, 2018|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref> Trump continued to attempt to rally support, by hosting "Angel Families" families whose loved ones had been killed by illegal immigrants (at the White House on June 23).<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44580964|title=Trump hosts victims of illegal migrants|date=June 23, 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=June 24, 2018))</ref> Fact checks following Trump's press conference noted that illegal immigrants are 25% less likely than native-born Americans to commit homicide and are 11.5% less likely to commit [[sexual assault]] than native-born Americans, that when more illegal immigrants move into a neighborhood, violent crime goes down.<ref name="autogenerated5">((cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/06/22/622540331/fact-check-trump-illegal-immigration-and-crime|title=FACT CHECK: Trump, Illegal Immigration And Crime |work=NPR |date=June 22, 2018 |access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref>

Trump has repeatedly and falsely said that he inherited the family separation policy from the previous president, Barack Obama. In November 2018, Trump said: "President Obama separated children from families, and all I did was take the same law, and then I softened the law". In April 2019, Trump said: "President Obama separated children. They had child separation; I was the one that changed it". In June 2019, Trump said: "President Obama had a separation policy. I didn't have it. He had it. I brought the families together. I'm the one that put them together((nbs))... I inherited separation, and I changed the plan". Trump's assertion was false because the Obama administration had no policy systematically separating migrant families, while the "zero tolerance" policy was only instituted by Trump's own administration in April 2018. [[PolitiFact]] quoted immigration experts that "family separations were relatively rare", and at a lower scale, before the Trump administration.<ref>((cite news |last1=Flaherty |first1=Anne |title=Trump falsely blames Obama for family separations at border |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-falsely-blames-obama-family-separations-border/story?id=58908866 |work=[[ABC News]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=November 2, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Montoya-Galvez |first1=Camilo |title=In misleading claim, Trump accuses Obama of separating migrant children |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-blames-obama-for-child-separation-policy-claim-review/ |work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=July 2, 2019))</ref><ref>((cite web |last1=Valverde |first1=Miriam |title=Donald Trump, again, falsely says Obama had family separation policy |url=https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/jun/21/donald-trump/donald-trump-again-falsely-says-obama-had-family-s/ |publisher=[[PolitiFact]] |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019))</ref>

==== Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen ====

During a June 18, 2018, White House press conference, [[United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Homeland Security Secretary]] [[Kirstjen Nielsen]] contended that during the first five months of fiscal 2018, there was a "314% increase in adults showing up with kids [posing as] a family unit. Those are traffickers, those are smugglers, that is MS-13, those are criminals, those are abusers." Using DHS data, analysis by ''The Washington Post'' found that such groups constituted 0.61% of "family units" apprehended at the border during that period.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/06/18/how-to-mislead-with-statistics-dhs-secretary-nielsen-edition/|title=Analysis—How to mislead with statistics, DHS Secretary Nielsen edition |last=Bump |first=Philip |date=June 18, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 19, 2018 |quote=A DHS representative provided The Washington Post with the hard numbers behind Nielsen's statistic. There were 46 cases of fraud—'individuals using minors to pose as fake family units'—in fiscal 2017, the period from October 2016 through September 2017. In the first five months of 2018, there were 191 cases. That is an increase of 315 percent. Even given the increased number of alleged smugglers this fiscal year and the decreased number of family units, those smugglers, those traffickers, those MS-13 members make up only 0.61 percent of the total number of family units.))</ref>

In the same press conference she said, "We now care for them.((nbs))... We have high standards. We give them meals. We give them education. We give them medical care. There's videos, there's TVs((nbs))..." and stated when asked about family separation that a "vast majority" of children held are unaccompanied minors.<ref>((Cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/18/dhs-head-nielsen-says-immigration-crisis-is-not-new-product-legislative-loopholes.html |title=DHS head Nielsen says immigration crisis 'is not new,' calls on Congress to act |last=Chamberlain |first=Samuel |date=June 18, 2018 |work=Fox News |access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> On June 19, 2018, Nielsen was heckled by protesters shouting "Shame! Shame!((nbs))... If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace", as she ate in a Mexican restaurant.<ref>((Cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/20/politics/kirstjen-nielsen-mexican-restaurant-protest/index.html |title=Kirstjen Nielsen jeered at by protesters while dining at Mexican restaurant |author=Madison Park |work=CNN|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

==== Attorney General Jeff Sessions ====

Sessions played an important role in implementing the family separation policy, as he instructed hesitant U.S. attorneys along the border with Mexico to go through with the policy.<ref name=":04">((Cite news|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|last2=Benner|first2=Katie|last3=Schmidt|first3=Michael S.|date=2020-10-06|title='We Need to Take Away Children,' No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/us/politics/family-separation-border-immigration-jeff-sessions-rod-rosenstein.html|access-date=2020-10-07|issn=0362-4331))</ref>

Following Christian opposition to the policy, Sessions controversially defended it by citing the [[Romans 13|thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans]] in the [[New Testament]],<ref name="Zauzmer15">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/14/jeff-sessions-points-to-the-bible-in-defense-of-separating-immigrant-families/|title=Sessions cites Bible passage used to defend slavery in defense of separating immigrant families |last1=Zauzmer |first1=Julie|date=June 15, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 15, 2018|last2=McMillan|first2=Keith))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/romans-13/562916/|title=The Fight to Define Romans 13|last=Mullen|first=Lincoln|date=June 15, 2018|work=The Atlantic))</ref> saying "I would cite you to the [[Apostle Paul]] and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order."<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeff-sessions-immigration-children-parents-separated-bible-romans-13-a8405856.html|title=Opinion: This is what the Bible's Romans 13 actually says about asylum and what Jeff Sessions omitted|work=The Independent|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref> Several commentators have noted that before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Romans 13 was traditionally used by advocates of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] to justify it, and to attack [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]].<ref name="Zauzmer14">((cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/06/14/jeff-sessions-points-to-the-bible-in-defense-of-separating-immigrant-families/|title=Jeff Sessions cites Romans 13, a Bible passage used to defend slavery, in defense of family separations|last=Zauzmer|first=Julie|date=June 14, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post))</ref>

On June 19, 2018, Sessions disputed claims by former CIA Director [[Michael Hayden (general)|Michael Hayden]] that the separation of the immigrant families at the border was similar to [[Nazi concentration camps]].<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44538110|title=Sessions denies migrant centres Nazi-like|date=June 19, 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref><ref name=StracqualursiSessions>((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/19/politics/jeff-sessions-immigration-border-separation/index.html|title=Sessions: Migrant children facilities not like Nazi Germany because 'they were keeping the Jews from leaving'|author=Veronica Stracqualursi|publisher=CNN|access-date=June 19, 2018))</ref> During the interview he said that the comparisons were inaccurate as the Nazis "were keeping the Jews from leaving the country". In the same interview, he said that if the parents are deported the children return with them, but if the parents claim asylum and stay the children are put into HHS custody.<ref name=StracqualursiSessions/>

==== Other officials ====

In April 2019, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said that the Trump administration "always intended to" reunited separated families.<ref>((cite news |last1=Gregorian |first1=Dareh |title=Acting DHS chief: Family separations 'not worth it' from enforcement perspective |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/acting-dhs-chief-family-separations-not-worth-it-enforcement-perspective-n997626 |work=[[NBC News]] |access-date=July 27, 2019 |date=April 24, 2019))</ref>

In July 2019, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief of Law Enforcement Operations Brian Hastings, testified before Congress that CBP deported parents without any knowledge on whether the child was reunited with their parents before the deportation. Hastings said that questions on reunification should be directed to HHS. Hastings additionally testified that there was no "minimum time" between telling migrant parents that a family separation would occur and the actual family separation.<ref>((cite web |last1=Stahl |first1=Jeremy |title=Top CBP Officer Testifies He's Unsure if 3-Year-Old Is 'a Criminal or a National Security Threat' |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/cbp-chief-brian-hastings-family-separation-judiciary-hearing-not-mueller.html |website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=July 26, 2019 |access-date=July 27, 2019))</ref>

== Executive order to suspend new separations and detain families ==

((See also|List of executive actions by Donald Trump#2018))

On June 20, 2018, Trump signed Executive Order 13841,<ref name=AffordingRegister>((Cite news|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/06/25/2018-13696/affording-congress-an-opportunity-to-address-family-separation|title=Affording Congress an Opportunity To Address Family Separation|date=June 25, 2018|work=Federal Register|access-date=June 27, 2018))</ref> titled "Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation",<ref name=AffordingHouse>((Cite news|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|title=Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> that restricts family separation but maintains many of the key components of the Administration's immigration policy. The Order instructs the Department of Homeland Security to maintain custody of parents and children jointly, "to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations".<ref name=WagnerMiroff>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gop-leaders-voice-hope-that-bill-addressing-family-separations-will-pass-thursday/2018/06/20/cc79db9a-7480-11e8-b4b7-308400242c2e_story.html|title=Trump reverses course, signs order ending his policy of separating families at the border |last1=Wagner |first1=John |last2=Miroff |first2=Nick |date=June 20, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 20, 2018|last3=DeBonis|first3=Mike))</ref> It also instructs the Justice Department to attempt to overturn the Flores Agreement, which limited the time for holding children and families with children to twenty days, allowing children to be [[Indefinite detention without trial|detained indefinitely]].<ref name=WagnerMiroff /> The order directs other agencies, including the Pentagon to create or procure spaces to house the family units, however the family unit will not be maintained if there is fear for the child's welfare.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/20/politics/trump-separation-action-immigration/index.html|title=Trump reverses course, signs order to keep families together|author1=Stephen Collinson |author2=Sarah Westwood |author3=Laura Jarrett |author4=Tal Kopan |work=CNN|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref>

At the signing ceremony, Trump said, "We're going to have strong, very strong borders but we are going to keep the families together. I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated."<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html|title=Trump Retreats on Separating Families, Signing Order to Detain Them Together|last1=Haberman|first1=Maggie|date=June 20, 2018|work=The New York Times |last2=Shear |first2=Michael |access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> Trump emphasised that families would be kept together, yet zero tolerance would continue.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/immigration-border-children-separation/h_736e0a322bf643474f887e8077d1454b|title=JUST IN: President Trump signs executive order on keeping families together|work=CNN|date=June 20, 2018|access-date=July 8, 2018)) "We are keeping families together. This will solve that problem. At the same time, we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero tolerance. We have zero tolerance for people that enter our country illegally."</ref>

At least two senior aides said that Republican Party leadership had no formal notice from the White House that there was planned executive action.<ref name=CBSinteractive>((Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-on-family-separation-live-stream/|title=Trump signs executive order on family separation but says "zero tolerance" to stay|access-date=June 20, 2018))</ref> The Chief Federal Public Defender in Southern Texas, Marjorie Meyers said that her official initially received no information about how the order would play out.<ref name=HeathGarciaMortizArceCollinsShesgreenJohnson>((Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/21/family-separation-what-trump-order-has-changed-immigrant-children/720372002/ |title=What's changed after Trump's immigration order: For families, for the military and for Congress|work=USA Today|date= June 21, 2018 |author=Brad Heath in McLean, Va.; Julie Garcia and John C. Moritz in Brownsville, Texas; Javier Arce in Phoenix; and Eliza Collins, Deirdre Shesgreen and Kevin Johnson in Washington))</ref>

=== Continued detention of separated children ===

Following the issue of the executive order, HHS stated that the status of children already detained would not be affected by the executive order, and that they would not be immediately reunited with their families.<ref name="ShearNYT2018-06-20">((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html|title=Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|date=June 20, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 21, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180620232622/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html|archive-date=June 20, 2018|last2=Goodnough|first2=Abby|last3=Haberman|first3=Maggie|author-link=Michael D. Shear|author-link3=Maggie Haberman|url-access=limited))</ref> However, it was later reported that the statement by Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the [[Administration for Children and Families]], that "there will be no grandfathering of existing cases" was based on incorrect information and no decision had been made.<ref name=HeathGarciaMortizArceCollinsShesgreenJohnson/>

A fact sheet on "Zero-Tolerance Prosecution and Family Reunification" that was released by the Department of Health and Human Services stated that a parent may request that their child be deported with them. However, the agency said that in the past many parents had elected to be deported without their children.<ref name=UT24/>

On June 26, 2018, HHS Secretary [[Alex Azar]] testified that 2,047 children continued to be held in HHS-contracted facilities.<ref name=Itkowitz/> He said that only parents who are deported or who are granted entry to the United States could be reunited with their children.<ref name=Itkowitz/> He further testified that HHS would reunite children with their detained parents only if Congress passed legislation lifting the 20-day limit on family detention required under the Flores settlement.<ref name=Itkowitz/> Azar also implied that around 250 children formerly in HHS custody had been reunited with family members in the United States, rather with those they had accompanied across the border.<ref name=Itkowitz/>

On June 28, 2018, a bill was passed at the initiative of [[Tom Udall|Senator Tom Udall]] that requires HHS to make information about migrant children in its care publicly available. This obligation includes weekly public updates on its website of the number of children who have been reunited with separated family members, as well as monthly publication of the information on migrant children that the HHS makes available to the [[United States Senate Committee on Appropriations]] under the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Bill.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/udall-amendment-requires-hhs-transparency-on-family-separation|title=Udall Amendment Requires HHS Transparency on Family Separation|publisher=Senator Tom Udall|date=June 28, 2017|access-date=June 30, 2018|archive-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224055435/https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/udall-amendment-requires-hhs-transparency-on-family-separation|url-status=dead))</ref>

=== Transition and continued separation ===
After the executive order halting the policy was issued, the Trump administration sent out mixed messages amid confusion over "how to begin detaining families together and whether the government would make any effort to reunite parents still in the U.S. with children currently held in separate shelters or foster facilities."<ref name=HerkyJerky>((cite news |author=Matthew Nussbaum, Eliana Johnson, Nancy Cook|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/21/trump-administration-family-separations-conflicting-statements-662618|title=Trump's herky-jerky immigration moves sow confusion|newspaper=Politico |date=June 22, 2018|access-date=June 22, 2018))</ref> On June 22, 2018, the office of [[John Bash]], the U.S. Attorney for Western Texas, said that the family separation policy was still in effect. He spoke of "a necessary transition" during which those who were charged would no longer be transferred to the custody of US Marshals but would stay in the custody of the DHS together with their children. The office confirmed that several cases that had been pending when the executive order had been issued were dismissed as part of that transition.<ref name=HerkyJerky/>

Parents and children crossing the border illegally were intended to have the same [[Alien registration number|A-file number]] given to them by immigration officials. Family reunification was complicated by the fact that in many cases families were separated before an A-file number was given, resulting in parents and children receiving different numbers which makes it more difficult to reunite them afterwards.<ref>((cite news |author=Ritu Prasad|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44581240|title=Undocumented migrant families embark on chaotic reunion process|publisher=BBC|date=June 23, 2018|access-date=June 23, 2018))</ref> Days after the formal end of the policy, authorities still were not able to tell the separated children how their parents were doing, or where their parents were.<ref>((cite news |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4291434/donald-trump-migrant-family-separation-reunification/|title='It's heartbreaking': Advocates work to reunite migrant kids with parents amid U.S. separation crisis|publisher=Globalnews|date=June 22, 2018|access-date=June 24, 2018))</ref>

DHS and HHS stated that they "have a process established to ensure that family members know the location of their children and have regular communication after separation to ensure that those adults who are subject to removal are reunited with their children for the purposes of removal", and that ICE had "implemented an identification mechanism to ensure on-going tracking of linked family members throughout the detention and removal process".<ref name=PAFR/> The [[Port Isabel Detention Center|Port Isabel Service Processing Center]] was intended to become the primary family reunification and removal center for adults who were in the custody of the ICE.<ref name=PAFR>((cite web|url=https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2018/06/23/zero-tolerance-prosecution-and-family-reunification.html|title=Zero-Tolerance Prosecution and Family Reunification|publisher=HHS|date=June 23, 2018|access-date=June 24, 2018))</ref> The document did not set out any timeline for reuniting the remaining children that had been separated from their families due to the policy.

The DHS and HHS documents stated that adults who had been processed for removal would have the choice of whether or not their child would accompany them.<ref name=FactSheet/> CNN reported that adult detainees were being offered the opportunity to see their children if they agreed to sign voluntary departure orders, waiving their right to go before a judge. Immigration advocates criticized the policy; Attorney Efrén Olivares of the Texas Civil Rights Project said, "We have no reason to believe that [voluntary deportation] is the fastest way for parents to be reunited with their children. Putting them in that position is not a voluntary [deportation]; it's being obtained under [[Duress in American law|duress]]."<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/24/politics/family-reunification-deportation-orders/index.html|title=Separated parents given option for voluntary deportation amid child reunification|author=Tal Kopan, Eli Watkins, Sonia Moghe|publisher=CNN|access-date=June 26, 2018))</ref>

HHS also stated that ICE officials had posted notices in all of its facilities advising detained parents who were trying to find or communicate with their children to call a hotline, staffed from 8:00&nbsp;a.m. to 8:00&nbsp;p.m., Monday through Friday. Further according to [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]], the parents can also contact the [[Office of Refugee Resettlement|Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)]] National Call Center, to determine if the child is in custody of HHS.<ref name=UT24>((Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/06/24/trump-administration-says-knows-location-all-border-children/728800002/ |title=Trump administration says it knows the location of all border children|work=USA Today|date=June 24, 2018))</ref>

=== Preparations for new detention facilities ===

The June 20, 2018, executive order instructs that "The Secretary of Defense shall take all legally available measures to provide to the Secretary, upon request, any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families, and shall construct such facilities if necessary and consistent with law."<ref name=AffordingHouse/> On June 21, the Department of Health and Human Services requested facilities to house migrant children. Pentagon spokesmen and a memorandum sent to Congress confirmed that the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] was preparing facilities at four military bases in Texas and Arkansas—Fort Bliss, [[Dyess Air Force Base]], [[Goodfellow Air Force Base]], and [[Little Rock Air Force Base]]—to house 20,000 "[[Unaccompanied Alien Children|unaccompanied alien children]]".<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/trump-immigration-border-family-separation.html|title=U.S. Prepares to House Up to 20,000 Migrants on Military Bases|last1=Shear|first1=Michael|date=June 21, 2018|work=The New York Times |last2=Cooper|first2=Helene|last3=Benner|first3=Kate |access-date=June 24, 2018))</ref> On June 25, the Associated Press reported that Fort Bliss and Goodfellow Air Force Base had been chosen, and that one will house unaccompanied migrant children, while the other will house migrant families.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/06/25/migrant-detainees-be-housed-2-texas-military-bases.html|title=Migrant Detainees to Be Housed at 2 Texas Military Bases|date=June 25, 2018|publisher=Military.com|access-date=June 25, 2018))</ref>

On June 22, 2018, [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' Magazine]] reported the contents of an internal Navy planning memorandum that proposed constructing "tent cities" to house migrants in "temporary and austere" facilities at Navy Outlying Field Wolf in Orange Beach, Alabama, Navy Outlying Field Silverhill, and two abandoned airfields near Mobile, Alabama. The memorandum also proposes that up to 47,000 people could be housed at both the former [[Concord Naval Weapons Station]] in northern California and [[Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton|Camp Pendleton]] in southern California. These would be built by the [[United States Navy|Navy]] and operated by the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services|Department of Health and Human Services]].<ref>((cite news|url=http://time.com/5319334/navy-detainment-centers-zerol-tolerance-immigration-family-separation-policy/|title=Exclusive: Navy Document Shows Plan to Erect 'Austere' Tent Cities for Immigrants|last1=Elliott|first1=Philip|last2=Hennigan|first2=W. J.|date=June 22, 2018|magazine=Time|access-date=June 24, 2018))</ref>

=== Suspension of detentions for new cases ===

On June 21, 2018, ''The Washington Post'' reported that Customs and Border Protection had suspended criminal referrals for parents arriving across the border with their children. At the time, Justice Department officials said the zero tolerance policy remained in force and they would continue to process all adults for illegal entry.<ref name=Miroff>((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-will-stop-prosecuting-parents-who-cross-the-border-illegally-with-children-official-says/2018/06/21/4902b194-7564-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html|title=Reversal on migrant families deepens confusion over Trump's immigration order |last1=Miroff |first1=Nick |date=June 21, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post |last2=Lamothe|first2=Dan|last3=Kim|first3=Seung Min))</ref>

On June 25, US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner [[Kevin McAleenan]] announced a temporary suspension of detaining migrant adults who traveled with children.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/us/politics/border-officials-suspend-handing-over-migrant-families-to-prosecutors.html|title=Border Officials Suspend Handing Over Migrant Families to Prosecutors|work=The New York Times |date=June 25, 2018 |access-date=June 26, 2018|last1=Nixon |first1=Ron |last2=Green |first2=Erica L. |last3=Shear |first3=Michael D. ))</ref><ref name="bbc-2018-06-26">((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44609876|title=US relaxes 'zero tolerance' on migrants|date=June 26, 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=June 26, 2018))</ref> In this context, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders explained that the government was "out of resources" and could not hold all the undocumented families coming across the US-Mexico border.<ref name="bbc-2018-06-26" />

=== Difficulties of the reunification process ===

[[File:Separated Parent's Removal Form.pdf|thumb|right|"Separated Parent's Removal Form" gives a parent being deported the option of leaving their child[ren] behind.<ref>((cite news |last1=Valencia |first1=Nick |last2=Kopan |first2=Tal |title=The options parents facing deportation have after they've been separated from their kids |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/politics/deportation-parents-separated-from-kids/index.html |work=CNN|date=July 3, 2018))</ref>]]

Three agencies were involved in processing immigrant families: Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. These agencies did not have a shared database for tracking migrant families, complied inaccurate summary data on the separation program, failed to consistently connect family members with their detained loved ones, and provided inaccurate information to family members, according to the DHS Inspector General's report.<ref name=":8">((Cite conference|last=U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Office of the Inspector General.|date=2018-09-27|title=Special Review—Initial Observations Regarding Family Separation Issues Under the Zero Tolerance Policy|location=Washington, DC|pages=9–15))</ref> On June 23, 2018, DHS falsely claimed it and HHS had a "central database" for tracking migrants; the Department's Inspector General "found no evidence that such a database exists".<ref name=":8" />

In early July, ORR staff were still missing instructions on how to proceed in order to reunite the separated children with their parents. The deadline for reuniting children under five with their parents was July 10; for all others it was July 26. After the court order, the HHS manually reviewed all case files of the approximately 11,800 children in their custody to determine whether HHS missed any who had been separated from adults at the border. Matters were further complicated by the fact that parents may have been in different situations: released, still detained, or deported.<ref name="politico-2018-07-04">((Cite news|first1=Ted|last1=Hesson|first2=Dan|last2=Diamond|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/02/separated-families-border-children-reunite-664674|title=As deadline looms, Trump officials struggle to reunite migrant families|newspaper=Politico|date=July 2, 2018|access-date=July 4, 2018))</ref><ref name="judge-rejects-blanket-delay-2018-07-06">((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/07/06/us/ap-us-immigration-separating-families.html|title=Judge rejects blanket delay to reunite children at border|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 6, 2018|access-date=July 7, 2018))</ref>

The usual procedure for the release of a child to a sponsor involves a background check. Sponsors must submit documentation proof that they are legitimate relatives and financially capable. They also have to pay for travel costs, in some cases thousands of US dollars for air fares.<ref>((Cite news|first1=Miriam|last1=Jordan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/us/migrant-children-families.html|title=Sponsors of Migrant Children Face Steep Transport Fees and Red Tape|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 1, 2018|access-date=July 4, 2018))</ref> Since June 2018, the procedure also involves the [[fingerprint]]ing of every adult in a potential sponsor's household. The procedure is said to be intended to avoid the risk of releasing children to unauthorized persons or child traffickers. Representatives of plaintiffs argue that the usual procedure is too slow for the release of a child to their parent.<ref name="politico-2018-07-04"/>

CNN reported that [[DNA testing]] was performed to expedite parental verification and ensure reunification with verified parents, without details being reported as to whether consent has been asked. Human rights advocates have criticized that migrant children, some as young as two months old, cannot give their consent to DNA testing.<ref>((cite news |author=Sonia Moghe, Nicole Chavez|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/05/politics/dna-testing-migrant-family-separation/index.html|title=DNA testing being done on separated migrant children and parents, official says|publisher=CNN|date=July 5, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2018))</ref> Medical experts have recommended to use DNA testing only as a last resort. Thomas H. Murray, president emeritus of [[The Hastings Center]], emphasizes the danger to social ties in the family given that "[[Non-paternity event#Definitions and uses|misattributed fatherhood]], and even motherhood, is more common than most people realize".<ref>((cite magazine |author=Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Elliott Spagat|url=http://time.com/5335372/separated-migrant-families-dna-testing/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715020459/http://time.com/5335372/separated-migrant-families-dna-testing/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 15, 2018|title=Medical Experts Say DNA Testing to Reunite Separated Migrant Families Should be a Last Resort|magazine=Time|date=July 11, 2018|access-date=July 13, 2018))</ref><ref>((cite web |author1=Alonso-Zaldivar, Ricardo|author2=Spagat, Elliott |url=https://apnews.com/article/7899e224d2e146e2b79f5b989e107144|title=Tests of DNA of migrant kids only as last resort, ethicists say|work=Associated Press|date=July 11, 2018|access-date=October 25, 2020))</ref>

==== Deadline ====

Azar declared on July 5, 2018, that the government would meet the July 10 deadline for uniting children under five with their parents, and confirmed that DNA testing was being used to speed up matching parents and children.<ref>((cite magazine|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2018-07-05/the-latest-government-will-meet-court-deadlines#close-modal|title=The Latest: Government Will Meet Court Deadlines|magazine=U.S. News & World Report |date=July 5, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2018))</ref> He also said the Department of Homeland Security was relocating parents of children under five to detention facilities close to their children.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://sg.news.yahoo.com/u-moving-detained-migrants-sites-closer-children-hhs-170244140.html|title=U.S. moving some detained migrants to sites closer to their children—HHS secretary|date=July 5, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2018))</ref> In advance of the deadline of July 26 that had been set for reunification of minors five or older, the administration stated on July 16 that it had completed reunifying "all eligible children under five", and that families with older children were being reunited on a rolling basis.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/texas/article/The-Latest-Judge-halts-deportations-of-reunited-13078952.php|title=The Latest: Texas shelter: US flying kids for reunifications|publisher=My San Antonio|date=July 16, 2018|access-date=July 22, 2018|archive-date=July 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722213632/https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/texas/article/The-Latest-Judge-halts-deportations-of-reunited-13078952.php|url-status=dead))</ref> On July 25, ACLU filed a submission setting out that some of the parents had been misled to relinquish their right to reunite with their children.<ref>((cite news |author=Aamna Mohdin|url=https://qz.com/1341985/the-aclu-claims-immigrant-parents-in-the-us-didnt-understand-contracts-that-waived-their-right-to-be-reunited-with-their-children/|title=Read: Immigrant parents describe signing reunification waivers they didn't understand|publisher=Quartz|date=July 27, 2018|access-date=July 29, 2018))</ref><ref>[https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/ms-l-v-ice-plaintiffs-reply-support-motion-stay-removal ACLU filing of July 25, 2018].</ref>

On July 26, 2018, the Trump administration said that 1,442 children had been reunited with their parents while 711 remained in government shelters because their cases are still under review, their parents have [[criminal record]]s, or their parents are no longer in the United States. Officials stated that 431 parents of those children had already been deported without their children. Officials said they will work with the court to return the remaining children, including the children whose parents have been deported.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">((cite news |title=Hundreds of migrant children remain in custody, though most separated families are reunited at court deadline |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-reunites-majority-of-separated-families-by-court-deadline/2018/07/26/7db6263c-9102-11e8-8322-b5482bf5e0f5_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=July 29, 2018))</ref> As of August 20, 2018, 528 of the children—about a fifth—reportedly still had not been reunited with their parents.<ref name="The Washington Post">((cite news |title=The Trump administration's legacy of orphans |url=https://wapo.st/2PH2h2m?tid=ss_mail |access-date=8 September 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 26, 2018 |language=en))</ref>

=== Second chance ===

In September 2018, the Department of Justice changed their handling of asylum claims of asylum seekers who had undergone family separation. The change, which was said to give about 1,000 persons a second chance to claim asylum, was the result of a negotiation covering three lawsuits that had been filed against the government over the family-separation policy.<ref>((cite news|author=Dara Lind|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/9/13/17853770/children-separated-news-update-parents-trump|title=As many as 1,000 parents separated from their children are getting a second chance to stay in the US|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date=September 13, 2018|access-date=September 20, 2018))</ref>

On November 30, 2018, CNN reported that 140 children who had been separated from their parents still remained in custody. Of these, eight were in the pipeline for reunification in the US or abroad, whereas 132 would not be reunified with their parents, either because the parents had declined reunification or officials had deemed that no reunification could take place because the parents were unfit or posed a danger.<ref>((Cite news |author=Catherine E. Shoichet |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/29/politics/separated-families-reunification-update/index.html |title=Concerns raised about 'traumatized' immigrant children still in custody |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=2018-11-30 |access-date=2018-12-06))</ref>

=== 2019 Followup report ===

A followup government report released in January 2019, revealed that while HHS had previously said that the total number of children separated from their parents was 2,737, a new investigation suggested the true number of children to be thousands more, with the exact number unknown.<ref name="apunknown"/><ref name="auto"/> In February, the Trump administration responded to requests made by the ACLU that the thousands of children that were revealed in the January report be reunited with their parents as well. HHS responded to the requests saying it would be extremely difficult to locate the children and even if it were possible they planned to continue to focus only on the children currently in custody, claiming that removing children from "sponsor" homes "would present grave child welfare concerns". The leading ACLU attorney responded saying "The Trump administration's response is a shocking concession that it can't easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents, and doesn't even think it's worth the time to locate each of them."<ref name="apunknown"/>

=== 2020 ACLU update ===

In October 2020, ACLU lawyers submitted a court filing with an update saying they had not yet been able to reach the parents of 545 separated children, with about two-thirds of the parents believed to be somewhere in Central America. The lawyers reported that it has been very difficult to locate the parents of about 1,500 children who had been taken from their parents in 2017, when zero-tolerance was being carried out during the secretive pilot program because many of those parents were deported without their children and records were not kept. The Trump administration has refused funding or assistance to help find the missing parents; NGOs and the ACLU have provided both volunteer workers and have covered all expenses related to the search. Speaking on [[PBS]], ACLU head attorney Lee Gelernt said, "When there are families in the U.S. who have finally been reunited, and they have gone through this horrific situation, you would think the Trump administration would say, OK, we will let them stay. But, in fact, what most people don't know is, the Trump administration is trying to deport all of these previously separated families." The ACLU says that the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the difficulty of finding parents, but they are committed to reuniting all of the remaining children.<ref name="PBS22oct20" /><ref>((cite news |last1=Armus |first1=Teo |title=The parents of 545 children separated at the border still haven't been found. The pandemic isn't helping. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/21/family-separation-parents-border-covid/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=October 21, 2020))</ref> After cases of [[Coronavirus disease 2019|COVID-19]] among minors in [[Office of Refugee Resettlement|ORR]] custody were confirmed during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], two federal courts issued rulings mandating oversight of the facilities' preparedness for the pandemic.<ref>((cite news |last1=O'Toole |first1=Molly |last2=Carcamo |first2=Cindy |title=New rulings amid coronavirus could force Trump to release migrant children and parents |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-31/trump-ruling-release-migrant-children-parents-coronavirus |access-date=April 1, 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 31, 2020))</ref> Though SARS-CoV-2 has been characterized as posing a "grave danger" to public health throughout the [[Biden Administration COVID-19 action plan]], vaccination is not a requirement for ICE detainees.<ref>((Cite news|title=No, migrants in immigrant detention facilities are not required to get the COVID-19 vaccine|url=https://www.abc10.com/article/news/verify/immigration/no-vaccine-mandate-immigration-detention-facilities-migrant-undocumented-workers-do-not-compel-vaccination/536-d1f56fcf-230c-4183-83e5-cc86c621fe95|last=Winter|first=Emery|access-date=2022-01-19|publisher=[[KXTV]] d.b.a. ABC10))</ref>  It was reported in July 2021 that just over 20% of detainees had received one dose of vaccine, with only 1,300 having received two doses.

== 2021 Biden reforms ==
[[File:2021 noncitizen processing facility (51161183439).jpg|thumb|Families at a US Customs and Border patrol facility in May 2021]]
On February 2, 2021, President [[Joe Biden]] signed executive orders which are planned to begin the dismantling of Trump's immigration policies. The orders aim to review Trump's actions and reunite separated migrant families, however they say it could take months, if not years. Under the Trump administration thousands of migrants have been living in squalid conditions on the Mexico side of the border as they waited for legal entry. Biden officials said that the border cannot be suddenly opened because a crisis could quickly develop if a large influx of people would attempt to enter the U.S. before an asylum and refugee system has been put in place. As he signed the order Biden said, "We're going to work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally, not figuratively, ripped children from the arms of their families, the mothers and fathers at the border, and with no plan—none whatsoever—to reunify the children."<ref>((cite news |title=Biden Issues Orders to Dismantle Trump's 'America First' Immigration Agenda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/us/politics/biden-immigration-executive-orders-trump.html |website=The New York Times |date=February 2, 2021 |access-date=February 15, 2021|last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Kanno-Youngs |first2=Zolan ))</ref><ref>((cite web |title=FACT SHEET: President Biden Outlines Steps to Reform Our Immigration System by Keeping Families Together, Addressing the Root Causes of Irregular Migration, and Streamlining the Legal Immigration System |url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/02/fact-sheet-president-biden-outlines-steps-to-reform-our-immigration-system-by-keeping-families-together-addressing-the-root-causes-of-irregular-migration-and-streamlining-the-legal-immigration-syst/ |website=The White House |access-date=16 February 2021 |date=2 February 2021))</ref>

The Biden administration established an Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families.<ref name=Rose>Joel Rose, [https://www.npr.org/2021/06/08/1004205868/bidens-task-force-has-reunited-36-migrant-families-with-hundreds-to-go Biden's Task Force Has Reunited 36 Migrant Families — With Hundreds To Go], NPR (June 8, 2021).</ref> The first reunifications took place in May 2021.<ref>Melissa Cruz, [https://immigrationimpact.com/2021/05/05/biden-reuniting-separated-families/ Biden Administration Begins Reuniting the First of Thousands of Migrant Families Still Separated], ''Immigration Impact'', American Immigration Council (May 5, 2021).</ref> By June 2021, the federal government had reunified 36 families in the United States, a small portion of the total.<ref name=Rose/>

==2022 update==

In 2022, journalist [[Caitlin Dickerson]], writing in ''[[The Atlantic]]'', reported an update of the long term effects on the children and their parents that resulted from their sudden, forced separation. She also reported on  an investigation of the history of the child separation policy, tracing its roots back to [[9-11]]. She interviewed a caseworker at a facility where many of the separated children had been taken who said that she and the others at the facility said it "was unlike anything they'd ever seen" with the separated children completely inconsolable. She spoke with therapists  who are working with the children and their families  who  say that the need for therapy will continue.<ref name="Shapiro et al. NPR"/>

Looking into the history of the separation policy Dickerson reports on the actions of the most involved governmental employees, including: Kevin McAleenan, the head of Customs and Border Protection (CBP); Tom Homan, the head of [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]]; Kirstjen Nielson, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary and the highest-ranking law enforcement official responsible for the policy; Republican Congressman Jeff Sessions; and Steven Miller. Dickerson labels this group the "hawks" and says that none of them, other than Nielson, would grant her an interview.  Nielson told her that she regrets her  decisions to go along with the plan.<ref name="Shapiro et al. NPR"/>

Dickerson writes that her investigation shows that the removal of children from their parents never was an accidental result of attempts to limit illegal immigration, but from the start was an attempt to permanently remove children and thus discourage people from entering through the Mexican border.
Her investigation revealed that while the hawks invented the zero tolerance and family  separation plans those she called "the bureaucrats, the career experts" who went along with the plans were as important in the implantation of the program. The bureaucrats granted her numerous interviews. She writes:

:They told me they were very concerned about separating families, but they stayed quiet. And when I asked why, they said, well, it wasn't strategic to speak up in these meetings or, you know, I couldn't alienate myself before Stephen Miller, given how much power he had in the administration. They figured someone else would intervene, and because of that, this policy was put into place.<ref>((cite web |last1=Interview with Terry Gross |title=How the Trump White House misled the world about its family separation policy |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/08/11/1116917364/how-the-trump-white-house-misled-the-world-about-its-family-separation-policy |website=NPR |access-date=August 16, 2022))</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Child displacement]]
*[[Family immigration detention in the United States]] 
*[[Flores Agreement]]
*[[Prison–industrial complex]]
*[[Trump administration migrant detentions]]
*[[Unaccompanied Alien Children]] in US immigration detention

'''Protests:'''
*[[Abolish ICE]]
*[[Occupy ICE]]
*[[Protests against the Trump administration family separation policy]]

== References ==
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*((Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/health/immigrant-family-separation-doctors/index.html|title=Doctors saw immigrant kids separated from their parents. Now they're trying to stop it.|last=Shoichet|first=Catherine E.|date=June 14, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521162742/https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/health/immigrant-family-separation-doctors/index.html|archive-date=May 21, 2019|publisher=[[CNN]]))
*((cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-immigrants-policy-criticism-20180610-story.html|title=Officials blast Trump policy after visiting detained immigrants|last1=Wang|first1=Amy|date=June 10, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 16, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618045141/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-immigrants-policy-criticism-20180610-story.html|archive-date=June 18, 2018|via=the [[Chicago Tribune]]|url-access=limited))
*((cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/why-religious-conservatives-are-calling-out-trump-on-family-separation-at-the-border/563060/|title=Religious Leaders Condemn Family Separations—but Not Necessarily Trump|last=Green|first=Emma|date=June 19, 2018|work=[[The Atlantic]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112220741/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/why-religious-conservatives-are-calling-out-trump-on-family-separation-at-the-border/563060/|archive-date=January 12, 2019|url-access=limited))
*((cite web|url=https://money.com/money/5317394/trump-family-separation-policy-uber-facebook-google-microsoft/|title=12 CEOs Who Criticized Trump's Family Separation Policy|last=Tuttle|first=Brad|date=February 8, 2019|website=[[Money (magazine)|Money]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208061246/http://money.com/money/5317394/trump-family-separation-policy-uber-facebook-google-microsoft/|archive-date=February 8, 2019))
*((cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17484278/pope-francis-condemn-trump-migrant-family-separtion|title=Pope Francis condemns Trump's family separation policy|last=Burton|first=Tara Isabella|date=June 20, 2018|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426155158/https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17484278/pope-francis-condemn-trump-migrant-family-separtion|archive-date=April 26, 2019))
*((cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/un-condemns-trump-policy-on-child-separation-as-abuse-1.3534500|title=UN condemns Trump policy on child separation as abuse|date=June 18, 2018|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405125303/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/un-condemns-trump-policy-on-child-separation-as-abuse-1.3534500|archive-date=April 5, 2019))</ref>
<ref name="lead ref 4">
*((Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/06/20/622095441/trump-executive-order-on-family-separation-what-it-does-and-doesnt-do|title=Trump's Executive Order On Family Separation: What It Does And Doesn't Do|last=Gonzales|first=Richard|date=June 20, 2018|access-date=October 26, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218022559/https://www.npr.org/2018/06/20/622095441/trump-executive-order-on-family-separation-what-it-does-and-doesnt-do|archive-date=February 18, 2019|publisher=[[NPR]]))
*((Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/20/full-text-trump-executive-order-family-separations-transcript-658639|title=Full text: Trump's executive order ending family separations|last=Politico Staff|date=June 20, 2018|work=[[Politico]]|access-date=October 26, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624192207/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/20/full-text-trump-executive-order-family-separations-transcript-658639|archive-date=June 24, 2019))
*((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/family-separation-executive-order.html|title=Explaining Trump's Executive Order on Family Separation|last=Savage|first=Charlie|date=June 20, 2019|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=October 26, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191026211440/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/family-separation-executive-order.html|archive-date=October 26, 2019|author-link=Charlie Savage (author)|url-access=limited))</ref>
<ref name="Seville">((cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-ran-pilot-program-separating-migrant-families-2017-n887616|title=Trump admin ran 'pilot program' for separating migrant families in 2017|last1=Seville|first1=Lisa Riordan|date=June 29, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180925014038/https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-ran-pilot-program-separating-migrant-families-2017-n887616|archive-date=September 25, 2018|work=[[NBC News]]|last2=Rappleye|first2=Hannah))</ref>
<ref name=":78">((cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-as-a-negotiating-tool-his-policy-of-separating-immigrant-children-from-their-parents/2018/06/15/ade82b80-70b3-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html|title=Trump cites as a negotiating tool his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents|last1=Scherer|first1=Michael|date=June 15, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 17, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191026190809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-cites-as-a-negotiating-tool-his-policy-of-separating-immigrant-children-from-their-parents/2018/06/15/ade82b80-70b3-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html|archive-date=October 26, 2019|last2=Dawsey|first2=Josh|author-link=Michael Scherer|author-link2=Josh Dawsey|url-access=limited))</ref>
<ref name="horwitz12">((Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-says-justice-dept-will-prosecute-every-person-who-crosses-border-unlawfully/2018/05/07/e1312b7e-5216-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html|title=Sessions vows to prosecute all illegal border crossers and separate children from their parents|last1=Horwitz|first1=Sari|date=May 7, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=June 15, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180617235720/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-says-justice-dept-will-prosecute-every-person-who-crosses-border-unlawfully/2018/05/07/e1312b7e-5216-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html?noredirect=on|archive-date=June 17, 2018|last2=Sacchetti|first2=Maria|author-link=Sari Horwitz|url-access=limited))</ref>
<ref name="ShearNYT2018-06-20">((Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html|title=Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart|last1=Shear|first1=Michael D.|date=June 20, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 21, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180620232622/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html|archive-date=June 20, 2018|last2=Goodnough|first2=Abby|last3=Haberman|first3=Maggie|author-link=Michael D. Shear|author-link3=Maggie Haberman|url-access=limited))</ref>
))

== Further reading ==

*Wallace, S., & Zepeda-Millán, C. (2020). ''[https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/walls-cages-and-family-separation/E9C59CC5B207A6489B001083DA9C89AE Walls, Cages, and Family Separation: Race and Immigration Policy in the Trump Era].'' Cambridge University Press.

== External links ==
((Commons category|Trump administration family separation policy))
* [https://www.dhs.gov/family-reunification-task-force Family Reunification Task Force]
* [https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/06/17/family-separation-under-trump-administration-timeline Family separation—a timeline]
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/zero-tolerance/PBS ''Zero Tolerance''] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314162252/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/announcement/pbs-presents-the-mueller-report-a-special-collaboration-from-frontline-and-pbs-newshour/ |date=March 14, 2021 )), [[PBS]] documentary

((Trump presidency))
((Donald Trump))
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((DEFAULTSORT:Family separation policy))
[[Category:2018 controversies in the United States]]
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