Highlights:
March 7, 2017: Then-DHS Secretary John Kelly Confirmed That The Administration Considered Separating Children From Their Parents At The Border. According to CNN, “Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly confirmed that the department is considering separating children from their parents at the border. ‘We have tremendous experience of dealing with unaccompanied minors,’ he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on ‘The Situation Room.’ ‘We turn them over to (Health and Human Services) and they do a very, very good job of putting them in foster care or linking them up with parents or family members in the United States.’ He continued: ‘Yes I'm considering (that), in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network. I am considering exactly that. They will be well cared for as we deal with their parents. ... It's more important to me, Wolf, to try to keep people off of this awful network.’” [CNN, 3/7/17]
May 7, 2018: Trump DHS Policy Stated That The Agency Would Refer “100 Percent Of Illegal Southwest Border Crossings” To The DOJ For Prosecution. According to Politico, “The Trump administration will more frequently separate families at the southwest border under a new policy announced Monday. The Homeland Security Department will refer ‘100 percent of illegal southwest border crossings’ to the Justice Department for prosecution under a federal statute that prohibits illegal entry, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday. ‘If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you,’ Sessions said at a press conference Monday afternoon near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego. ‘It’s that simple.’” [Politico, 5/7/18]
The New Policy Led To An Increase In Family Separations At The Border Because It Classified Children As Unaccompanied Minors When Their Parents Were Prosecuted. According to Politico, “However, the department’s new commitment to prosecute border crossers will almost certainly lead to an increase in family separation. Under existing law, children encountered at the border can be classified as unaccompanied minors if their parents are prosecuted and detained for criminal charges. In those circumstances, the children are transferred to the custody of the Health and Human Services Department until they can be placed with a guardian. Increased referrals of people suspected of illegally crossing the border would likely make such separations more common. ‘We don’t want to separate families, but we don't want families to come to the border illegally,’ Sessions said Monday. ‘This is just the way the world works.’” [Politico, 5/7/18]
Then-Attorney General Sessions: If You Illegally Cross Into The United States Your Child “Will Be Separated From You As Required By Law.” According to Politico, “The attorney general first announced the DHS policy Monday morning at a law enforcement conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. ‘If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law,’ the attorney general said in prepared remarks for that event. ‘If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border.’” [Politico, 5/7/18]
Trump: “You Have To Take The Children Away” While Parents Were Prosecuted. According to CBS News, “President Trump suggested Tuesday while he wants to ‘solve family separation,’ splitting the family is part of the process. ‘I don't want children taken away from parents, and when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally -- which should happen -- you have to take the children away.’” [CBS News, 6/19/18]
Kelly: “The Children Will Be Taken Care Of – Put Into Foster Care Or Whatever.” According to a transcript of an NPR interview with then DHS Secretary Kelly, “NPR: ‘Even though people say that's cruel and heartless to take a mother away from her children?’ Kelly: ‘I wouldn't put it quite that way. The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever. But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long.’” [NPR, 5/11/18]
August 21, 2019: The Trump Administration Unveiled A Regulation To Allow It To Indefinitely Detain Migrant Families Who Illegally Crossed The Border. According to the New York Times, “The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled a regulation to allow it to indefinitely detain migrant families who illegally cross the border. The rule replaces a decades-old court agreement that mandates a level of care for migrant children and limits how long the government can hold them in custody. For more than a year, the White House has pressed the Department of Homeland Security to find a way to eliminate the agreement, known as the Flores settlement, which limits the time children can spend in detention and establishes minimum standards for the holding facilities for families and children.” [New York Times, 8/21/19]
The New Regulation Would Abolish The 20-Day Limit On Detaining Families In Immigration Jails. According to the New York Times, “But once in effect, it would specifically abolish a 20-day limit on detaining families in immigration jails, a cap that Mr. Trump has repeatedly complained has led to the ‘catch and release’ of families from Central America and elsewhere into the United States.” [New York Times, 8/21/19]
October 25, 2019: More Than 5,400 Children Were Separated From Their Guardians At The Border Since July 2017. According to the Associated Press, “U.S. immigration authorities separated more than 1,500 children from their parents at the Mexico border early in the Trump administration, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday, bringing the total number of children separated since July 2017 to more than 5,400. The ACLU said the administration told its attorneys that 1,556 children were separated from July 1, 2017, to June 26, 2018, when a federal judge in San Diego ordered that children in government custody be reunited with their parents. Children from that period can be difficult to find because the government had inadequate tracking systems.” [Associated Press, 10/25/19]
Of Those Separated Between July 1, 2017 To June 26, 2018, 207 Of The Children Were Younger Than Five. According to the Associated Press, “Of those separated during the 12-month period, 207 were younger than 5, said attorney Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, which sued to stop family separation. Five were younger than a year old, 26 were a year old, 40 were 2 years old, 76 were 3, and 60 were 4.” [Associated Press, 10/25/19]
In FY 2019, The U.S. Government Held 69,550 Unaccompanied Migrant Children In Custody. According to the Associated Press, “New U.S. government data released this month found 69,550 migrant children have been held in U.S. government custody over the past year.” [Associated Press, 11/19/19]
In Fiscal Year 2018, The U.S. Government Held Nearly 50,000 Unaccompanied Migrant Children In Custody. According to an Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) fact sheet from HHS, “By law, HHS has custody and must provide care for each UAC, defined as a child who has no lawful immigration status in the United States; has not attained 18 years of age; and, with respect to whom, there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody […] In FY 2018, 49,100 UAC were referred to [Office of Refugee Resettlement] ORR.” [Health and Human Services, 10/31/19]
The Trump Administration Planned To House Up To 1,400 Unaccompanied Migrant Children At A Military Base That Served As A Japanese Internment Camp During World War II. According to Time, “The Trump Administration has opted to use an Army base in Oklahoma to hold growing numbers of immigrant children in its custody after running out of room at government shelters. Fort Sill, an 150-year-old installation once used as an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II, has been selected to detain 1,400 children until they can be given to an adult relative, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The agency said Fort Sill will be used ‘as a temporary emergency influx shelter’ to help ease the burden on the government as it prepares to house a record number of minors even though it already operates about 168 facilities and programs in 23 states.” [Time, 6/11/19]
November 20, 2018: The Federal Government Spent $80 Million To Care For And Reunite Migrant Children Separated From Their Parents. According to the New York Times, “The federal government has spent $80 million to care for and reunite migrant children who were separated from their parents by immigration authorities, a figure that continues to grow months after the policy ended because more than 140 children are still in custody. The first official price tag on family separations — which ended abruptly in June in the face of widespread public opposition — comes to about $30,000 per child.” [New York Times, 11/20/18]
June 18, 2018: Then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Tweeted That The Agency Does ‘Not Have A Policy Of Separating Families At The Border.’
[Twitter, 6/17/18]
Amid Outcry Over Family Separations At The Border, Nielsen Stated That The Agency “Would Not Apologize” For Doing Its Job. According to Politico, “Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday that the agency ‘will not apologize’ for doing its job amid the public outcry over the thousands of children who are being separated from their parents as they illegally cross the border. ‘We have to do our job. We will not apologize for doing our job. We have sworn to do this job,’ Nielsen said at the annual conference of the National Sheriffs’ Association in New Orleans.” [Politico, 6/18/18]
At A House Judiciary Hearing, Nielsen Again Claimed That The Trump Administration Did Not Have A Family Separation Policy. According to NBC News, “At the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, however, Nielsen firmly defended the administration's practices by insisting, as she has in the past, that no such family separation policy existed. She fired back at Gutierrez calling her a liar, saying, ‘Only to say that calling me a liar is fighting words. I'm not a liar, we've never had a policy for family separation.’ A family separation policy, she said, ‘would mean that any family that I found at a port of entry I would separate, it would mean that every single family that I found illegally crossing, we would separate. We did none of those.’ At least 2,600 children were separated from their parents under the Trump administration's ‘zero tolerance’ policy at the border, which was in effect from May 6 through June 20.” [NBC News, 12/20/18]
Trump Claimed To Reporters That Obama Was To Blame For Separating Families At The Border, And That He Was The One “That Brought Them Together.” According to a transcript of remarks by President Trump before Marine One departure, “So President Obama had separation. I’m the one that brought them together. This new rule will do even more to bring them together. But it was President Obama that had the separation.” [Transcript – remarks by President Trump, 8/21/19]
Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy Led To The Forcible Separation Of Children From Their Family. According to the New York Times, “Under Mr. Trump, the Justice Department announced its ‘zero-tolerance policy’ for illegally entering the United States in April 2018, describing it as ‘new’ and in response to an increase in unauthorized border crossings that spring. The policy called for the criminal prosecution of everyone who enters the country illegally. As a result, nearly 3,000 children were forcibly separated from adult family members who were detained under the new policy, which multiple top Trump officials have characterized as a deterrent.” [New York Times, 8/21/19]
During The Obama Administration, Family Separations Were Rare And Predicated Upon The Safety Of The Child. According to a Los Angeles times op-ed by Scott Martelle, “During the Obama administration, family separations were rare and predicated upon two conditions: whether border officials felt the parents or guardians posed a threat to the children, or whether the adults, under U.S. immigration law, had to be detained based on prior criminal convictions.” [Opinion – Scott Martelle, 4/9/19]
In Previous Administrations, Family Separations Were Rare And Occurred In Cases In Which The Familial Relationship Between Child And Accompanying Adult Was Doubted. According to the New York Times, “While previous administrations did break up families, it was rare — for example, in cases in which there was doubt about the familial relationship between a child and an accompanying adult, according to former officials and immigration experts. ‘Nothing like what the Trump administration is doing has occurred before,’ Sarah Pierce of the Migration Policy Institute told The New York Times last year.” [New York Times, 8/21/19]
At Least Seven Children Are Known To Have Died In Immigration Custody Since 2018. According to NBC News, “At least seven children are known to have died in immigration custody since last year, after almost a decade in which no child reportedly died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The string of cases continue to raise questions around the conditions in which migrant children are being kept at a time when a growing number of migrants, many of them Central American parents with children, are presenting themselves at the border to seek asylum.” [NBC News, 5/29/19]
Three Children Died In Border Patrol Custody Of The Flu. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Three youths — ages 2, 6 and 16 — died in Border Patrol custody of the flu during the federal fiscal year that ended in September. The deaths came as the number of migrant children and families in federal custody reached a record high.” [Los Angeles Times, 11/19/19]
U.S. Immigration Authorities Blocked Doctors From Giving Flu Vaccines To Detained Children. According to the Guardian, “US immigration authorities blocked doctors from giving flu vaccines to detained migrant children this week, a move that physicians say will lead to more deaths behind bars. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) refused to grant a group of doctors access to provide vaccines in San Diego on Monday despite at least three recent flu deaths of children in US immigration custody, aged two, six and 16, and growing concerns about health hazards and unsafe conditions for asylum seekers in detention. Licensed physicians arrived at the Chula Vista border patrol station in San Ysidro prepared to operate a free flu clinic for the detained migrants, but CBP would not let them inside, claiming it was not ‘feasible’ to provide the medical care.” [Guardian, 12/10/19]
Physicians Pressured The CBP Stating, “More People Will Die Without The Vaccine.” According to the Guardian, “‘More people will die without the vaccine,’ said Dr Hannah Janeway, an emergency medicine physician turned away by CBP. ‘There’s no doubt. They are being locked in cages in cold weather together, without any vaccination, in a year that is supposed to bring a horrible flu epidemic.’ Janeway, a Los Angeles-based doctor who also works with asylum seekers in Tijuana, said CBP had a moral obligation to provide vaccines: ‘Our government, who is creating these conditions and allowing them to persist, is basically saying some people’s lives are worth more than others, and it’s OK for children to die.’ For more than a month, a group of physicians has been urging the US to vaccinate migrants in custody, and in November they formally offered to set up a free pilot clinic. CBP, however, has rejected the proposal by arguing that there are logistical challenges and that because CBP operates short-term detention, a flu clinic is not feasible.” [Guardian, 12/10/19]
The Federal Government Received More Than 4,500 Complaints In Four Years About The Sexual Abuse Of Immigrant Children Who Were Held At Government-Funded Detention Facilities. According to the New York Times, “The federal government received more than 4,500 complaints in four years about the sexual abuse of immigrant children who were being held at government-funded detention facilities, including an increase in complaints while the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the border was in place, the Justice Department revealed this week. The records, which involve children who had entered the country alone or had been separated from their parents, detailed allegations that adult staff members had harassed and assaulted children, including fondling and kissing minors, watching them as they showered, and raping them. They also included cases of suspected abuse of children by other minors.” [New York Times, 2/27/19]
For The Four Years Covered By The Report, The Number Of Sexual Abuse Complaints Rose After The Trump Administration Enacted Its Separation Policy. According to the New York Times, “For most of the four years covered by the report, the number of allegations made to the Office of Refugee Resettlement stayed about the same from month to month. But the number of complaints rose after the Trump administration enacted its separation policy. From March 2018 to July 2018, the agency received 859 complaints, the largest number of reports during any five-month span in the previous four years. Of those, 342 allegations were referred to the Justice Department, the report showed.” [New York Times, 2/27/19]
The Trump Administration: “The Vast Majority Of Allegations Prove To Be Unfounded When They Are Investigated By State Law Enforcement And Federal Law Enforcement And The State Licensure Authorities To Whom We Refer Them.” According to NPR, “Administration officials expressed their concern while defending the Office of Refugee Resettlement. ‘We share the concern that I think everyone in this room feels, anytime a child is abused in the care of ORR is one time too many,’ said Jonathan White, the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps commander. ‘The vast majority of allegations prove to be unfounded when they are investigated by state law enforcement and federal law enforcement and the state licensure authorities to whom we refer them,’ he added.” [NPR, 2/26/19]
When The Trump Administration Separated Kids From Their Parents It Increased Their Trauma And PTSD Says Inspector General Report. According to Buzzfeed News, “Some unaccompanied immigrant children who end up at government facilities already experienced physical or sexual abuse in the countries they fled, or violence on the journey to the US, the report said. The trauma was only made worse by the “zero tolerance” policy that led to thousands of children being systematically separated from their parents by immigration authorities in the spring of 2018. Separated children experienced heightened levels of anxiety, fear, and PTSD compared with children who were not taken from their parents, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General said. Its report looked at facilities funded by HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, which had custody over children who were separated from their parents or who arrived in the US unaccompanied by an adult.” [Buzzfeed, 9/4/19]
The Children’s Trauma Was Made Worse By The Federal Government’s Lack Of Preparedness And Poor Record Keeping. According to Buzzfeed, “The report offered additional details on the effects the Trump administration’s systematic family separations had on immigrant children and how the trauma was made worse by federal agencies’ lack of preparedness and poor record-keeping. One 7- or 8-year-old boy who was separated from his father believed his dad had been killed and that he would also be killed. The child ended up in emergency psychiatric care. One medical director said separated children felt physical manifestations of their psychological pain and made statements like ‘every heartbeat hurts’ or ‘I can’t feel my heart.’ The increased mental health issues were made worse by the difficulty in finding the parents of separated children and being able to set up phone calls with the kids — due to the government’s lack of record-keeping for separated children. During the height of family separations at the border, statements from federal authorities revealed the Trump administration had little to no planning for how the children and parents would eventually be reunited.” [Buzzfeed, 9/4/19]
Human Rights Activists Toured A Detention Facility That Had Children In Chain Link Fencing And Sleeping With Tin-Foil Blankets. According to the Washington Post, “In June 2018, reporters and human rights activists toured a facility in McAllen, Tex., where children slept under foil sheets surrounded by chain-link fencing, after DHS acknowledged separating children from their parents at the border. Public outrage over an audio clip of a sobbing child forced Trump to halt the practice. DHS later identified 4,227 separated children, 3,147 of whom were reunited with their parent as of November 2023.” [Washington Post, 2/20/24]
June 20, 2018: Trump Signed An Executive Order Stating The Administration’s Policy To “Maintain Family Unity.” According to CNN, “The executive order states it is the policy of the administration ‘to maintain family unity,’ a new position from the administration which had been defending the separation of families and blaming the families themselves for putting themselves in the position of being separated by crossing the border illegally -- saying the administration's hands were tied.
While the Justice Department will continue to prosecute adults who cross the border illegally in federal court, the order says, Trump asks that families be housed together ‘where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.’ It was not immediately clear whether the caveats would still result in a substantial number of separations.” [CNN, 6/20/18]
The Executive Order Did Not Reunite Families Previously Separated. According to CNN, “The order does not speak to any families that have already been separated -- and existing policies place the onus on parents to find their children in HHS custody and seek to reunite with them. On Wednesday afternoon, HHS spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said, ‘For the minors currently in the unaccompanied alien children program, the sponsorship process will proceed as usual.’” [CNN, 6/20/18]
June 26, 2018: A Federal Judge Ordered The Trump Administration To Reunite Migrant Families. According to Politico, “A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the federal government to reunite migrant parents with children taken from them under the Trump administration’s family separation policy. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw, based in San Diego, issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday night requiring that nearly all children younger than 5 be returned to their parents within 14 days and that older children be returned within 30 days.” [Politico, 6/26/18]
After The Court Order To Reunite Families, Trump’s New Instructions Gave Parent’s Two Options: Leave The U.S. With Your Kids Or Without Them. According to NBC News, “After a court order to reunite more than 2,000 migrant children who were separated from their parents in May and June, the Trump administration has instructed immigration agents to give those parents two options: leave the country with your kids — or leave the country without them, according to a copy of a government form obtained by NBC News. The new instructions to agents do not allow parents who were separated from their children under President Donald Trump's ‘zero tolerance’ policy to reunite with their children while they await a decision on asylum, a protection sought by thousands of migrant families fleeing violence in Central America.” [NBC News, 7/3/18]
The Trump Administration Reunited Fewer Than Half Of The Eligible Separated Migrant Families By Its Court-Ordered Deadline. According to CNN, “The Trump administration was only able to reunite fewer than half of the eligible separated migrant families in its care by a court-ordered deadline Tuesday -- as the fates of thousands more remain in limbo. A federal judge on Tuesday was nevertheless mostly satisfied with the government's efforts to meet his deadline, turning his attention next to the 2,000 to 3,000 families that will need to be reunited later in the month. As of late Tuesday afternoon, four children of 102 identified for the deadline had already been reunified with their parents, and another 34 were expected to be reunited by the end of the day, according to the administration. That was fewer than the 54 children the federal government had previously said would be reunited by the deadline. The children who are addressed under the Tuesday deadline are all under age 5 and have been held by the government for weeks or months after being separated from their parents at the border.” [CNN, 7/10/18]
Trump Lacked A Plan To Reunify Nearly 600 Migrant Children With Their Parents, Having Deported The Parents Of 410 Children Prior To Reunification. According to NBC News, “The federal judge overseeing the court-ordered reunification of the 2,551 migrant children separated from their parents at the border blasted the Trump administration Friday for lacking a plan to reunify the remaining 572 children in its custody with their parents and the slow pace of progress. In a Thursday night status report filing, the Trump administration said only 13 of the parents had been located by the American Civil Liberties Union, which U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California called ‘unacceptable at this point.’ The parents of 410 children are currently outside of the United States, likely having been deported before reunification, according to the court filing.” [NBC News, 8/3/18]
April 2019: The Trump Administration Stated That It May Take Federal Officials Two Years To Identify Up To Thousands Of Immigrant Families Separated Before The Administration Unveiled Its ‘Zero-Tolerance’ Policy. According to the New York Times, “It may take federal officials two years to identify what could be thousands of immigrant children who were separated from their families at the southern United States border, the government said in court documents filed on Friday. A federal judge had asked for a plan to identify these children and their families after a report from government inspectors in January revealed that the Trump administration most likely separated thousands more children from their parents than was previously believed. These families were separated before the administration unveiled its ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy in the spring of 2018, when nearly all adults entering the country illegally were prosecuted and any children accompanying them were put into shelters or foster care.” [New York Times, 4/6/19]
Emails Revealed That The Trump Administration Had “No Way To Link” Separated Migrant Children To Parents. According to NBC News, “On the same day the Trump administration said it would reunite thousands of migrant families it had separated at the border with the help of a ‘central database,’ an official was admitting privately the government only had enough information to reconnect 60 parents with their kids, according to emails obtained by NBC News. ‘[I]n short, no, we do not have any linkages from parents to [children], save for a handful,’ a Health and Human Services official told a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement on June 23, 2018. ‘We have a list of parent alien numbers but no way to link them to children’ […] The gaps in the system for tracking separations would result in a months-long effort to reunite nearly 3,000 families separated under the administration's ‘zero tolerance’ policy. Officials had to review all the relevant records manually, a process that continues. [NBC News, 5/1/19]
Washington Post: February 20, 2024: “DHS Later Identified 4,227 Separated Children, 3,147 Of Whom Were Reunited With Their Parent As Of November 2023.” According to the Washington Post, “In June 2018, reporters and human rights activists toured a facility in McAllen, Tex., where children slept under foil sheets surrounded by chain-link fencing, after DHS acknowledged separating children from their parents at the border. Public outrage over an audio clip of a sobbing child forced Trump to halt the practice. DHS later identified 4,227 separated children, 3,147 of whom were reunited with their parent as of November 2023.” [Washington Post, 2/20/24]
Trump Refused To Rule Out Reviving His Family Separation Policy If He Won In 2024. According to Time, “But there was at least one thing he said during the CNN Town Hall on Wednesday evening that was less predictable: he refused to rule out reimplementing family separations at the southern border if elected president again. ‘When you have that policy, people don’t come,’ Trump told moderator Kaitlan Collins. ‘If a family hears that they’re going to be separated—they love their family—they don’t come. I know it sounds harsh.’” [Time, 5/10/23]
Trump Appeared At A Fundraiser For The Border911 Foundation, An Organization Led By Thomas Homan, Former Acting ICE Director And Implementer Of Trump’s Family Separation Policy. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Since President Trump left office in 2021, his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida has became a regular staging ground for fundraising events supporting Republican candidates and causes. This week, attendees will shell out up to $100,000 to support an organization aligned with the issue that appears to be the most animating for Republican voters: immigration and the border. Trump is slated to appear at a fundraiser Thursday at Mar-a-Lago for the Border911 foundation, according to the organization’s website. The nonprofit was founded last year by Thomas Homan, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who helped implement and oversee the former president’s controversial ‘family separation policy’ and remains a steadfast Trump supporter.” [Los Angeles Times, 4/4/24]