Trump administration family separation policy

{{See also|Immigration policy of the United States#History|History of laws concerning immigration and naturalization in the United States}}

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).{{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|access-date=July 11, 2021|archive-date=August 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829221926/https://www.factcheck.org/2018/06/did-the-obama-administration-separate-families/|url-status=live}}{{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|access-date=July 11, 2021|archive-date=July 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728162759/https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-caribbean-ap-top-news-julian-castro-immigration-2584b7cbfc4948cd9b828df0c1161a57|url-status=live}} Families traveling together were generally only separated under narrow circumstances, such as suspicion of human trafficking, an outstanding warrant, or fraud.{{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.|access-date=October 29, 2021|archive-date=November 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101060803/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-trump-child-separation-meme/|url-status=live}} For decades, the government did not pursue criminal charges for illegal entry, which had been a misdemeanor offense since 1929. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 led to a significant change in U.S. immigration,{{Cite web |date=2021-09-10 |title=U.S. Immigration Before 1965 |url=https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/u-s-immigration-before-1965 |access-date=2023-08-08 |website=HISTORY |language=en}} with increased immigration from regions including Mexico and Central America, including an increase in child immigrants.{{Cite web| title=Children's Migration to the United States from Mexico and Central America: Evidence from the Mexican and Latin American Migration Projects | url=https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/journals/jmhs/v3i1/f_0033636_27413.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204142953/https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/journals/jmhs/v3i1/f_0033636_27413.pdf | archive-date=2024-12-04}}{{cite web | url=https://www.asanet.org/footnotes-article/latin-american-child-migrant-labor-in-the-u-s-past-present-and-future/ | title=Latin American Child Migrant Labor in the U.S.: Past, Present, and Future {{pipe}} American Sociological Association | work=American Sociological Association }} Starting in the 1980s, increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors migrated to the United States from Central America.{{cite journal | title=Codifying the Flores Settlement Agreement: Seeking to Protect Immigrant Children in U.S. Custody | volume=95 |number=4 | journal=Marquette Law Review | url=http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5138&context=mulr|first=Rebeca M. |last=López| year=2012 |access-date=July 16, 2019}}pages=1633-1677

====Flores Settlement Agreement====

{{main|Reno v. Flores}}

In 1984, the director of Western Region of the INS introduced a new policy that a detained immigrant unaccompanied minor "could only be released to a parent or legal guardian". This resulted in minors allegedly being detained in poor conditions for "lengthy or indefinite" periods of time.{{Cite web|url=https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/multistate_comment_letter_dhs_docket_no._iceb-2018-0002_and_hhs_docket_no._hhs-os-2018-0023.pdf|title=Multi-State Comment Letter November 6, 2018 pp.33}}{{rp|33}}Starting in 1985, in response to these allegations of mistreatment of unaccompanied minors in INS facilities, a series of lawsuits was initiated.{{cite journal | url=https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/unaccompanied-minors-us-mexico | title=Alone and Vulnerable: Unaccompanied Minors in the United States and Mexico | journal=Report | date=October 9, 2018 }} In 1997, following years of litigation over these lawsuits which included Flores v. Meese and Reno v. Flores, a consent decree or settlement called the Flores Settlement Agreement was reached. It set strict standards regarding the treatment of minors by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The government agreed to keep children in the least restrictive setting possible and to ensure their prompt release from detention.{{rp|1650}}{{cite report |url=https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/OIG_10-117_Sep10.pdf |publisher=Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General |date=September 2010 |access-date=June 21, 2018 |title=CBP's Handling of Unaccompanied Alien Children |volume=OIG-10-117}}{{cite web |title=Stipulated Settlement Agreement |url=https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/flores_settlement_final_plus_extension_of_settlement011797.pdf |access-date=June 19, 2018 |date=August 12, 1996}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2018/jun/18/ted-cruz/ted-cruz-says-child-parent-separations-border-tied/ |title=Ted Cruz says child-parent separations tie to court order |work=PolitiFact |location=Texas |publisher=Poynter Institute |date=June 18, 2018 |access-date=2018-06-19|language=en |first=W. Gardner |last=Selby}}{{cite web |work=PolitiFact |location=Texas |publisher=Poynter Institute |date=June 18, 2018 |access-date=2018-06-19 |title=Summary of Flores v. Reno Agreement |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRTc7VHqs_Y8Pt9xQx7-Ae2JpfU3pUOEPc0rgCc1OeEMlKqtDPf8INAa5fSYHU0iVzot5t7eonTT3u3/pub}} The settlement required minors to be provided with "food and drinking water as appropriate", "medical assistance if minor is in need of emergency services", "toilets and sinks", "adequate temperature control and ventilation", "adequate supervision to protect minors from others", "contact with family members who were arrested with the minor and separation from unrelated adults whenever possible".{{cite report |volume=R43599 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |url=https://www.sfbar.org/forms/lawyerreferrals/immigration/unaccompanied-alien-children-an-overview.pdf |title=Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview |first=William A. |last=Kandel |date=January 18, 2017 |access-date=July 31, 2019 |page=18}}{{rp|3–4}}

In 2005, President George W. Bush launched Operation Streamline, a "zero-tolerance"{{Cite web| title=Assembly-line Justice: A review of operation streamline | url=https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Operation_Streamline_Policy_Brief.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121001351/http://www.law.berkeley.edu:80/files/Operation_Streamline_Policy_Brief.pdf | archive-date=2010-01-21}} program targeting a stretch of the U.S.–Mexico border that referred unlawful entrants for criminal prosecution and expedited their deportation.{{cite news|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|access-date=May 12, 2023|archive-date=September 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925081907/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/trump-administration-family-separation-policy-immigration/670604/|url-status=live}} Operation Streamline was later renamed the Criminal Consequence Initiative.{{cite web | url=https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/05/19/written-testimony-cbp-senate-judiciary-subcommittee-immigration-and-national | title=Written testimony of CBP for a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest hearing titled "Declining Deportations and Increasing Criminal Alien Releases – the Lawless Immigration Policies of the Obama Administration" {{pipe}} Homeland Security }} Parents traveling with minor children were typically exempt from the policy. In 2006, Congress designated a single facility—the T. Don Hutto Residential Center—to house families together, and that facility opened in 2006.{{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 |archive-date=June 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622132836/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/failed-experiment-immigrant-family-detention-n403126 |url-status=live }} Children were nonetheless sometimes separated from their parents as a result of child welfare practices and immigration policies; a 2011 report estimated that 5,100 children were in foster care while their parents were detained or deported.{{Cite web | url=https://act.colorlines.com/acton/attachment/1069/f-0079/0/-/-/-/-/ARC_Report_Shattered_Families_FULL_REPORT_Nov2011Release.pdf | title=The Perilous intersection of immigration enforcement and the Child Welfare System | website=act.colorlines.com}}

The Obama administration initially rejected family detention and shuttered the Hutto Center. But, after the 2014 American immigration crisis, which was a surge in women and unaccompanied children seeking entrance to the U.S., Obama assembled a multiagency team tasked with crafting new immigration policies. This occasioned the first discussion of a family-separation policy, which was proposed by ICE official Thomas Homan, though the proposal was quickly rejected. Instead, the administration opted to expand the detention policy and built new family-detention facilities, meant to hold families indefinitely pending deportation. The journalist Caitlin Dickerson described Homan as the "intellectual father" of family separation policy.{{Cite web |last=Dickerson |first=Caitlin |date=2022-08-07 |title=An American Catastrophe |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/trump-administration-family-separation-policy-immigration/670604/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

In 2016, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Flores v. Lynch that, pursuant to the Flores Settlement Agreement, both unaccompanied and accompanied minors could only be held in detention for a short time{{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 |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/politics/fact-check-republicans-family-separations-border.html |url-status=live }}—roughly, 20 days. 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.{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619085907/https://www.npr.org/2017/12/08/565426335/when-immigration-detention-means-losing-your-kids |url-status=live }} Few families were ever separated under the Obama administration, and such families were generally quickly reunited once identified.{{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 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411135732/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/jun/19/matt-schlapp/no-donald-trumps-separation-immigrant-families-was/ |url-status=live }} Unaccompanied children were kept in holding cells, separated by age and gender, while appropriate placements were found.{{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. |archive-date=January 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112223402/https://globalnews.ca/news/4238798/us-children-immigration-photo-2014-trump/ |url-status=live }}{{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. |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331213052/https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2014/06/18/arizona-immigrant-children-holding-area-tour/10780449/ |url-status=live }} Supporters of Donald Trump would later claim that his family separation policy was equivalent to policies under the Obama administration, but non-partisan groups and journalists have described the assertion as false.{{Cite news |last1=Caldwell |first1=Alicia A. |last2=Frosch |first2=Dan |date=June 18, 2018 |title=What's Behind Family Separation at the Border?: Question and Answer |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-behind-family-separation-at-the-border-question-and-answer-1529345730 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620180821/https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-behind-family-separation-at-the-border-question-and-answer-1529345730 |archive-date=June 20, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}

{{See also|Trump administration migrant detentions|Immigration policy of the first Donald Trump administration|Trumpism}}

File:Thomas D. Homan (cropped).jpg]]

While running for president in 2016, candidate Donald Trump said ending "catch and release" was the second of his two priorities for immigration reform, after walling off Mexico.{{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 |archive-date=June 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621221256/http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-donald-trump-immigration-speech-transcript-20160831-snap-htmlstory.html |url-status=live }}{{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 |access-date=June 24, 2018 |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203192138/https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-transcript-227614 |url-status=live }} 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. Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller was also a driving force behind the Trump administration's family separation policy.{{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 |archive-date=November 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113032544/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/12/leaked-stephen-miller-emails-suggest-trumps-point-man-immigration-promoted-white-nationalism/ |url-status=live }}{{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 |archive-date=December 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216225329/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/stephen-miller-family-separation/563132/ |url-status=live }}{{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|archive-date=June 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619232915/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/us/politics/immigration-children-sessions-miller.html|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=December 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218171019/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/white-house-killed-deal-pay-mental-health-care-migrant-families-n1248158|url-status=live}} 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."{{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 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114014043/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/white-supremacy-was-behind-child-separations-trump-officials-went-along-n1237746 |url-status=live }}

File:Stephen Miller by Gage Skidmore.jpg

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.{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619040036/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children-idUSKBN16A2ES |url-status=live }}{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619001327/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-discussed-separating-moms-kids-deter-asylum-seekers-feb-n884371 |url-status=live }} 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.{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619040008/https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/03/politics/dhs-children-adults-border/ |url-status=live }}

John Kelly, then Secretary of Homeland Security, confirmed that the policy was under consideration,{{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|archive-date=June 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618175405/https://www.npr.org/2018/05/28/615010170/how-the-trump-administrations-family-separation-policy-is-playing-out|url-status=live}}{{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 |archive-date=June 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617165136/https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/john-kelly-separating-children-from-parents-immigration-border/index.html |url-status=live }} but later denied it.{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215043540/https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/politics/border-families-separation-kelly/index.html |url-status=live }}{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619062726/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/wary-dems-look-to-kelly-for-answers-on-immigration-236673 |url-status=live }} 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 in explaining what was being proposed.{{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 |archive-date=June 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617093754/https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/6/advocate_dhs_proposal_to_split_children |url-status=live }}

On April 5, 2017, the DHS said they were no longer considering the policy partly due to the steep decline in mothers attempting to travel to the U.S. with their children.{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619035752/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-kelly-idUSKBN1771VW |url-status=live }}

In April 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered Department of Justice attorneys to escalate federal prosecutions for immigration offenses. 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.{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206210522/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Trump-moves-to-end-catch-and-release-12383666.php |url-status=live }}

Beginning in May 2017, a program called the Criminal Consequence Initiative was implemented in the Yuma, Arizona Border Patrol Sector. Under that program, first-time border crossers were prosecuted and U.S. Border Patrol agents started separating migrant parents from their children, including children as young as ten months old.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] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710130636/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/09/trump-separated-families-yuma-2017/|date=July 10, 2021}}, Washington Post (July 9, 2021).

From May to December 31, 2017, more than 234 families were separated in the Yuma sector. These family separations were not publicly reported at the time. 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.

A separate family-separation program was run in the El Paso Border Patrol Sector. Called a "pilot program" for zero tolerance, it ran from May to October 2017. 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.

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 split families, not to deter immigration, but rather to "protect the best interests of minor children crossing our borders".{{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|archive-date=June 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617193126/https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/opinions/taken-from-their-parents-there-is-nothing-right-about-this-reyes/index.html|url-status=live}}

According to an April 2018 memo obtained by The Washington Post, the government viewed the El Paso experiment as successful because during the program, there was a 64 percent drop in apprehensions while apprehensions began to rise in October when it was paused. According to a Border Patrol report, of the 1,800 family members processed during the El Paso sector initiative, approximately 281 individuals were separated from their families.[https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/696788.pdf "Unaccompanied Children: Agency Efforts to Identify and Reunify Children Separated from Parents at the Border"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207192058/https://www.gao.gov//assets/700/696788.pdf|date=December 7, 2020}}, GAO (February 7, 2019). This "experiment" was eventually used by ICE, CBP, and CIS to launch the zero-tolerance program across the entire Southwest border in April.

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."

The existence of the "pilot program" in El Paso first became widely known in June 2018, with reporting by NBC News from information provided by DHS. 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.

Saying it would save $12 million a year, in June 2017 the Trump administration ended the Family Case Management Program, an ICE program which kept asylum-seeking mothers and their children supervised by ICE out of detention.{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619040333/https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/trump-admin-ending-women-children-asylum-program/index.html |url-status=live }}

File:Jeff Sessions, official portrait.jpg

On April 6, 2018, 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.{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619112948/https://www.voanews.com/a/jeff-sessions-zero-tolerance-policy-illegal-entry-us/4336134.html |url-status=live }}{{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 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181055/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bracelets-immigrants-operation-streamline/ |url-status=live }} 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.{{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|access-date=June 17, 2018|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615163231/https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks-discussing-immigration-enforcement-actions|url-status=live}}}}

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.{{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|archive-date=August 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819001234/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-port-of-entry-separations-20180701-story.html|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=July 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711051249/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/05/migrants-seeking-asylum-legally-ports-entry-turned-away-separated-fami/|url-status=live}}{{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.}} 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." Later in the day Nielsen tweeted: "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period."{{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|access-date=June 18, 2018|archive-date=September 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925063846/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-children-immigrant-conway-bannon-20180617-story.html|url-status=live}}

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.{{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 }}

File:Protest against child detention outside Border Patrol facility in Clint Texas 27 JUN 19 6.jpg

The policy was notably unpopular, more so than any other major bill or executive action at that time.{{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|archive-date=June 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620153348/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/06/19/the-extraordinary-unpopularity-of-trumps-family-separation-policy-in-one-graph/|url-status=live}} Poll aggregates showed that approximately 25 percent of Americans supported the policy, although a majority of Republicans supported it.{{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|archive-date=June 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619232848/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/18/17475740/family-separation-poll-polling-border-trump-children-immigrant-families-parents|url-status=live}} Following the May announcement, dozens of protest demonstrations were held, attracting thousands. In Washington, D.C., Democratic members of Congress marched in protest.{{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|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615025850/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/protest-marches-family-separation.html|url-status=live}} 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,{{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 |archive-date=June 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180608025445/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/world/americas/us-un-migrant-children-families.html |url-status=live }}{{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}} and human rights activists criticized that the policy, insofar as it is also applied to asylum seekers, defied Article 31 of the Refugee Convention.{{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|archive-date=June 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616232749/https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/whats-really-happening-asylum-seeking-families-separated/|url-status=live}}

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.{{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 |archive-date=July 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726232853/https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/25/politics/family-separation-documents/index.html |url-status=live }}

{{See also|List of executive actions by Donald Trump#2018}}

On June 20, 2018, Trump bowed to intense political pressure and signed an executive order stating that the Administration would attempt to detain families together instead of separating families.{{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 |archive-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180620232622/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=June 25, 2018 |title=Affording Congress an Opportunity To Address Family Separation |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/06/25/2018-13696/affording-congress-an-opportunity-to-address-family-separation |access-date=June 27, 2018 |work=Federal Register}}{{Cite news |title=Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/ |access-date=June 20, 2018 |work=whitehouse.gov |via=National Archives}} The order instructed 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". This was a change from previous policy in which adults were detained by ICE and children were first detained by ICE and then transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services.{{Cite news |last1=Wagner |first1=John |last2=Miroff |first2=Nick |last3=DeBonis |first3=Mike |date=June 20, 2018 |title=Trump reverses course, signs order ending his policy of separating families at the border |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 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} It also instructed the Justice Department to request to modify the Flores Agreement, which limited the time for holding children and families with children to twenty days, to allow families to be detained indefinitely pending criminal proceedings or immigration proceedings. The executive order further instructed the Department of Defense, upon request, to provide facilities "for the housing and care of alien families" and to construct such facilities if necessary. The Trump administration said they would use a "central database" to reconnect the thousands of families that had been separated. However, emails obtained by NBC News in 2019 showed that there was no central database and the government had only enough information to reconnect sixty children with their parents.{{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 |archive-date=May 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508015545/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/emails-show-trump-admin-had-no-way-link-separated-migrant-n1000746 |url-status=live }}

When signing the executive order, Trump had stated that the "zero tolerance" policy remained in effect.{{Cite news |title=Trump Ends Family Separations by Detaining Whole Families Indefinitely |url=https://truthout.org/articles/trump-ends-family-separations-by-detaining-whole-families-indefinitely/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621004325/https://truthout.org/articles/trump-ends-family-separations-by-detaining-whole-families-indefinitely/ |archive-date=June 21, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |publisher=Truthout}}{{cite news |date=June 22, 2018 |title=What's Happening at the US Border? |url=https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/immigration-border-children-separation/h_736e0a322bf643474f887e8077d1454b |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620232458/https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/immigration-border-children-separation/h_736e0a322bf643474f887e8077d1454b |archive-date=June 20, 2018 |access-date=June 26, 2018 |publisher=CNN |vauthors=Wagner M, Rocha V, Ries B, Wills A}}{{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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207192058/https://www.gao.gov//assets/700/696788.pdf |archive-date=December 7, 2020 |access-date=February 8, 2019 |publisher=www.gao.gov}}{{Cite news |date=June 20, 2018 |title=JUST IN: President Trump signs executive order on keeping families together |url=https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/immigration-border-children-separation#h_736e0a322bf643474f887e8077d1454b |access-date=July 8, 2018 |work=CNN}} "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." However, it became clear that "zero tolerance" could not be sustained while keeping families together within the scope of court rulings. So on June 25, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan announced that the agency would cease referring every person caught crossing the border illegally for prosecution, effectively ending the "zero tolerance" policy.{{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 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626110010/https://www.npr.org/2018/06/26/623451388/trumps-zero-tolerance-policy-overwhelms-border-agents |url-status=live }} McAleenan announced a temporary suspension of detaining migrant adults who traveled with children.{{Cite news |last1=Nixon |first1=Ron |last2=Green |first2=Erica L. |last3=Shear |first3=Michael D. |date=June 25, 2018 |title=Border Officials Suspend Handing Over Migrant Families to Prosecutors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/us/politics/border-officials-suspend-handing-over-migrant-families-to-prosecutors.html |access-date=June 26, 2018 |work=The New York Times}}{{cite news |date=June 26, 2018 |title=US relaxes 'zero tolerance' on migrants |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44609876 |access-date=June 26, 2018 |work=BBC News}} 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 U.S.–Mexico border.Implementing "zero tolerance" had been 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.

Numerous journalists reported that family separations continued after the executive action and court rulings barring the practice. Some of the reports included USA Today in February 2019,{{cite news |last1=Gomez |first1=Alan |date=February 21, 2019 |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/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729221932/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/21/trump-administration-breaks-up-some-migrant-families-heres-how-cbp-border-sabraw-separate/2836085002/ |archive-date=July 29, 2019 |access-date=June 24, 2019 |work=USA Today}} The Boston Globe in March 2019,{{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 |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-access=limited |url-status=live |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 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |work=The New York Times |via=The Boston Globe}} Los Angeles Times in April 2019,{{cite news |last1=O'Toole |first1=Molly |date=April 12, 2019 |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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624120635/https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-family-separation-trump-year-later-20190412-story.html |archive-date=June 24, 2019 |access-date=June 24, 2019 |work=Los Angeles Times}} CBS News in May 2019,{{cite news |last1=Bojorquez |first1=Manuel |date=May 8, 2019 |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/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623033915/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/young-girl-reunites-with-immigrant-father-326-days-after-being-separated-2019-05-07/ |archive-date=June 23, 2019 |access-date=June 24, 2019 |work=CBS News}} and Houston Chronicle in June 2019.{{cite news |last1=Kriel |first1=Lomi |last2=Begley |first2=Dug |date=June 22, 2019 |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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623200332/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Trump-administration-still-separating-hundreds-of-14029494.php |archive-date=June 23, 2019 |access-date=June 24, 2019 |work=Houston Chronicle}}

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.{{Cite news |last1=Jervis |first1=Rick |last2=Gomez |first2=Alan |date=May 2, 2019 |title=Trump administration has separated hundreds of children from their migrant families since 2018 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/border-family-separations-trump-administration-border-patrol/3563990002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502155034/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/border-family-separations-trump-administration-border-patrol/3563990002/ |archive-date=May 2, 2019 |access-date=2019-05-02 |work=USA Today |language=en}} 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.{{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}} In July, it was reported that as many as five children per day were being separated,{{Cite news |last1=Roldan |first1=Riane |last2=Rocha |first2=Alana |date=July 12, 2019 |title=Family separations aren't over. As many as five kids per day are separated from their parents at the border. |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/12/migrant-children-are-still-being-separated-parents-data-show/ |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 |access-date=July 18, 2019 |work=The Texas Tribune |language=en}} and by the end of the year, the total had reached over 1,100.

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.{{cite news |last=Tapper |first=Jake |date=2019-04-08 |title=Trump pushed to close El Paso border, told admin officials to resume family separations and agents not to admit migrants |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/politics/trump-family-separation-el-paso-kirstjen-nielsen/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409222957/https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/politics/trump-family-separation-el-paso-kirstjen-nielsen/index.html |archive-date=April 9, 2019 |access-date=2019-04-08 |publisher=CNN}} 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 U.S., 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.{{Cite news |last=Klein |first=Betsy |title=Trump denies reports he will reinstate family separation border policy |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/politics/donald-trump-family-separation-border/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126003934/https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/politics/donald-trump-family-separation-border/index.html |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |access-date=April 10, 2019 |publisher=CNN}}{{Cite news |last=Rupar |first=Aaron |date=April 9, 2019 |title=Trump's attempt to blame Obama for family separations, debunked |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/9/18303439/trump-blame-obama-family-separations-debunked |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211080747/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/9/18303439/trump-blame-obama-family-separations-debunked |archive-date=December 11, 2020 |access-date=April 10, 2019 |work=Vox}}

According to Forbes magazine, "After family separation ended, Trump wanted to bring it back ...'Throughout the remainder of his presidency, Trump pushed to relaunch family separations,' reported Caitlin Dickerson."{{cite web | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2024/08/11/trumps-family-separation-immigration-policy-how-history-could-repeat/ | title=Trump's Family Separation Immigration Policy: How History Could Repeat | website=Forbes }}

The last reported family separation took place on July 20, 2019.{{cite web | url=https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice?document=ms-l-v-ice-status-report-9-11-19 | title=Ms. L v. ICE }}

In January 2019, the congressional Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee announced that they would 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".{{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 |url-status=dead |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 |archive-date=September 4, 2019 |access-date=March 11, 2019}}

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.{{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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311062943/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-house-subcommittee-hearing-on-trump-administrations-family-separation-policy |archive-date=March 11, 2019 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |work=PBS NewsHour}} 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."{{cite news |last1=Gomez |first1=Alan |date=February 7, 2019 |title=Democrats grill Trump administration officials over family separation policy on the border |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/07/democrats-trump-administration-family-separation-policy-border-immigration/2794324002/ |url-status=live |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 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |work=USA Today}}

The second meeting was held on March 6. The committee questioned 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 U.S. 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."{{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/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307000638/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/06/trump-immigration-policy-under-attack-democrats-hearings-kirstjen-nielsen-daca-tps/3074583002/ |archive-date=March 7, 2019 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |work=USA Today}}

{{See also|Trump administration migrant detentions}}

File:Overcrowded Families in Weslaco Station-11Jun2019-DHS OIG.png were reported by inspectors from the federal government in June 2019.{{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|archive-date=July 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714210800/https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-07/OIG-19-51-Jul19_.pdf|url-status=live}}]]

In June 2019, a group of attorneys who were involved with the Flores settlement visited a Border Patrol center in Clint, Texas. The facility housed 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 younger children. 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."{{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 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20191026205543/https://www.apnews.com/46da2dbe04f54adbb875cfbc06bbc615 |url-status=live }}

On July 1, 2019, several Democratic members of Congress visited migrant detention centers in Texas in a tour organized by Border Patrol agents. 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".{{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 |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701224338/https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/01/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-1392083 |url-status=live }} 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.{{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 |archive-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702014456/https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/07/01/here-what-mass-representatives-said-about-their-experience-visiting-migrant-detention-centers/wlQWzuF34cnh0EZ2HCo3OP/story.html |url-status=live }}{{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 |archive-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702000017/https://www.yahoo.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-border-patrol-violent-culture-171703682.html |url-status=live }}{{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 |archive-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702034928/https://keprtv.com/news/nation-world/congressional-delegation-visits-migrant-detention-facilities |url-status=live }} 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.{{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 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181113/https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/07/01/migrant-children-detained-clint-border-patrol-station-congressional-hispanic-caucus/1617059001/ |url-status=live }} 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.{{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 |archive-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702031923/https://www.france24.com/es/20190702-ocasio-cortez-condiciones-centros-detencion-migrantes |url-status=live }} Activists who had gathered at the facility chanted support for President Donald Trump and directed racist comments towards Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim.{{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 |access-date=July 2, 2019 |date=July 1, 2019 |archive-date=July 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702011913/https://thehill.com/latino/451264-democratic-lawmakers-pay-tense-visit-to-texas-migrant-facility |url-status=live }}

Between January 2017 and April 2020, 39 adults died in ICE custody or immediately after being released.{{Cite web|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|access-date=December 13, 2020|archive-date=December 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222062749/https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/justice-free_zones_immigrant_detention_report_aclu_hrw_nijc_0.pdf|url-status=live}} 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." Investigations found that some facilities were understaffed or engaged in cost cutting measures that could endanger the health of people in detention.{{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|access-date=February 24, 2023|archive-date=September 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925081906/https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-06/OIG-19-47-Jun19.pdf|url-status=live}}{{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|access-date=December 13, 2020|archive-date=November 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111235237/https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/coderedreportdeathsicedetention.pdf|url-status=live}} Medical facilities appeared dangerously unprepared, with experts raising concerns about medical mismanagement of sick individuals. 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.

Reports detailed gaps in the provision of basic mental health services. Between January 2017 and March 2020, twelve people died as a result of apparent suicide while in detention. The ACLU 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".

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.{{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/|access-date=December 13, 2020|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181113/https://time.com/5866659/ice-parents-children-detention-coronavirus-release/|url-status=live}} Concerns have been raised regarding the rate in which hysterectomies are performed on immigrant women under ICE custody.{{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|access-date=December 13, 2020|archive-date=February 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210165904/https://projectsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OIG-ICDC-Complaint-1.pdf|url-status=live}} 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. 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.

In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued two reports{{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 |access-date=September 8, 2019 |archive-date=December 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211153736/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6380666-Inspector-General-Report-from-HHSOIG.html |url-status=live }}{{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 |access-date=September 9, 2019 |archive-date=January 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122045435/https://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region12/121920001.pdf |url-status=live }} 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.{{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 |archive-date=September 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908223842/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hhs-inspector-general-report-details-psychological-trauma-among-separated-migrant-children/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{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 |archive-date=September 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909015915/https://phr.org/news/u-s-government-confirms-migrant-children-experienced-severe-mental-health-issues-following-family-separation/ |url-status=live }}}}

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.

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.}}

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.

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".{{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 |archive-date=September 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915093923/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/ |url-status=live }}

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. 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.{{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|access-date = June 19, 2020|archive-date = December 11, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201211185554/https://www.texastribune.org/2019/12/16/trump-administration-knew-family-separations-harm-migrant-children/|url-status = live}}

File:Review of the DOJ’s Planning and Implementation of Its Zero Tolerance Policy and Its Coordination with the DHS and DHHS.pdf

In February 2017, 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.

Speaking on NPR in May 2018, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly described the policy as "a 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."{{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}}

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."{{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 |archive-date=June 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614192326/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/ |url-status=live }} White House senior policy adviser 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."{{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}}

The Washington Post quoted a White House official as saying that Trump's decision was intended to "force people to the table" to negotiate on laws in Congress.{{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 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |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 |url-status=live }} 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}}{{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 |archive-date=June 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617020129/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/15/politics/trump-immigration-compromise/index.html |url-status=live }}

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detains families suspected of illegally crossing the border.{{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|archive-date=November 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114230011/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/19/the-facts-about-trumps-policy-of-separating-families-at-the-border/|url-status=live}} 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".{{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|archive-date=June 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620072004/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/border-immigration-courts.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{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|archive-date=June 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619142528/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/us/immigrants-family-separation.html|url-status=live}} Families undergo separations when parents or adult relatives were charged with unlawful entry.

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." People who plead guilty are typically sentenced to time served in jail, while repeat offenders may be sentenced to 30–75 days in jail. 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.

According to several defense lawyers working with the immigrants, in many cases the 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.{{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 |archive-date=June 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616222416/https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents |url-status=live }} 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 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.{{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|archive-date=June 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620231945/https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/06/20/baby-boys-separated-immigrant-parents-michigan/714527002/|url-status=live}} 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.{{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|archive-date=June 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619142259/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/children-immigration-borders-family-separation.html|url-status=live}}

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.{{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|archive-date=September 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925081909/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/21/trumps-zero-tolerance-border-prosecutions-led-time-served-and-10-fee/722237002/|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=June 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618203258/https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/exclusive-366-migrant-kids-torn-from-parents-in-8-days-1257034819627?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ai|url-status=live}}

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.{{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|archive-date=July 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703235758/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/27/immigrant-toddlers-ordered-appear-court-alone/|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=November 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110005150/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/children-immigration-court-deportation-attorney/|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Inspector General report on the Zero Tolerance Policy}}

In January 2021, the 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.{{cite web |date=2021-01-14 |title=Watchdog: DOJ bungled 'zero tolerance' immigration policy |url=https://apnews.com/article/aclu-doj-zero-tolerance-policy-failure-b8e6e0a189f5752697335f51d57b1628 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114233550/https://apnews.com/article/aclu-doj-zero-tolerance-policy-failure-b8e6e0a189f5752697335f51d57b1628 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=2021-01-15 |website=AP NEWS |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.}} 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".{{cite web |last1=Holpuch |first1=Amanda |last2=Kirchgaessner |first2=Stephanie |date=2021-01-14 |title=Trump official admits family separation policy 'should never have been implemented' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/14/trump-official-family-separation-policy-rod-rosenstein |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181113/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/14/trump-official-family-separation-policy-rod-rosenstein |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |access-date=2021-01-15 |website=the Guardian |quote=Rod Rosenstein publicly denounces 'zero-tolerance' policy for first time, following report showing US didn't effectively coordinate care for children}} 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."{{cite web |date=January 14, 2021 |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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114234509/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/justice-officials-respond-new-report-family-separation-blaming-trump-expressing-n1254278 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |access-date=January 15, 2021 |website=NBC News}}

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 U.S., they are presenting themselves at the border hoping to claim asylum, which they were legally entitled to do under certain circumstances.{{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 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181036/https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741769333/u-s-sets-new-asylum-rule-telling-potential-refugees-to-apply-elsewhere |url-status=live }} 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 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.{{cite news |last=Miroff |first=Nick |date=June 8, 2018 |title=A family was separated at the border, and this distraught father took his own life |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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212112538/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 |archive-date=February 12, 2021 |access-date=June 18, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In June 2018, U.S. 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". 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."{{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}} According to Jayapal, some Border Patrol had told the mothers that "their families don't exist anymore."

A journalist working for The New Yorker spoke with several women incarcerated at the 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."{{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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210044923/https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/mothers-in-a-new-mexico-prison-do-not-know-how-to-find-their-children |archive-date=December 10, 2020 |access-date=June 22, 2018 |magazine=The New Yorker}}

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){{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|archive-date=April 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410145853/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/us/politics/customs-border-protection-family-separations.html|url-status=live}} during the six weeks from April 19 and May 31.{{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|archive-date=June 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623193913/http://fortune.com/2018/06/15/dhs-1995-children-separated-families-zero-tolerance-policy/|url-status=live}} This figure did not include children of families that asked for asylum at an official border crossing and were then separated.{{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|archive-date=June 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616222416/https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=October 26, 2019|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|url-status=live}} Speaking on Face the Nation on June 17, Senator Susan Collins suggested that the number may well be higher.

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.{{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|archive-date=June 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619200940/https://www.vox.com/2018/6/19/17479138/how-many-families-separated-border-immigration|url-status=live}}

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, U.S. 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.{{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|archive-date=June 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626080324/https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/06/23/fact-sheet-zero-tolerance-prosecution-and-family-reunification|url-status=live}} 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."{{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|archive-date=July 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702111937/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-report-visit-immigrant-detention-centers_us_5b32bc2de4b0b5e692f23d92|url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Itkowitz |first=Colby |date=June 26, 2018 |title=HHS Secretary says it's up to Congress to reunite migrant families |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/06/26/hhs-secretary-says-its-up-to-congress-to-reunite-migrant-families/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201212191026/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/06/26/hhs-secretary-says-its-up-to-congress-to-reunite-migrant-families/ |archive-date=December 12, 2020 |access-date=June 27, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

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.{{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|archive-date=May 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516102300/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-05/u-s-says-it-ll-return-immigrant-children-under-5-by-next-week|url-status=live}} 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.{{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|archive-date=July 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707012232/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-asks-more-time-reunite-kids-parents-separated-border-n889301|url-status=live}} The government had connected 46 of the toddlers with parents still in custody. 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. 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. A status conference was scheduled for the morning of July{{nbs}}9 concerning which cases would merit a delay.{{Cite news |date=July 6, 2018 |title=Judge rejects blanket delay to reunite children at border |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/07/06/us/ap-us-immigration-separating-families.html |access-date=July 7, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times}} 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".{{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|archive-date=July 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707172638/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/06/trump-administration-asks-court-more-time-family-reunification-deadlin/|url-status=live}}

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.{{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|archive-date=September 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913011913/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-holding-12800-migrant-children-in-detention-centers-report-says/|url-status=live}}

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.{{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|access-date=2019-01-17|date=2018-10-11|archive-date=January 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119174503/https://www.vox.com/2018/10/11/17963380/family-separation-news-still-children|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=January 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119174420/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/10/usa-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-southern-border/|url-status=live}} 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.{{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|archive-date=January 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118004411/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/01/17/Audit-finds-thousands-more-migrant-kids-were-separated-from-families/5671547743793/|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=January 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117160334/https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-BL-18-00511.pdf|url-status=live}}

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.{{cite news |last=Spagat |first=Elliot |date=February 3, 2019 |title=US sees limitations on reuniting migrant families |url=https://apnews.com/48210bbf243e423ea151ff04e4878ce6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190204151227/https://apnews.com/48210bbf243e423ea151ff04e4878ce6 |archive-date=February 4, 2019 |work=Associated Press}}{{cite news |last1=Long |first1=Colleen |last2=Alonso-Zaldivar |first2=Ricardo |date=January 18, 2019 |title=Watchdog: Thousands More Children May Have Been Separated |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-01-17/watchdog-many-more-migrant-families-may-have-been-separated |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 |access-date=January 19, 2019 |work=U.S. News & World Report |agency=Associated Press}} HHS is not able to identify or count children who were released from the government's custody before officials started identifying separated families.{{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|date=2019-01-17|access-date=2019-04-06|archive-date=April 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409131854/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/17/18186773/families-children-separated-trump-thousands|url-status=live}} 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,{{Who|date=January 2025}} ICE and CBP.{{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|archive-date=April 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408052705/https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/06/politics/family-separations-plan/index.html|url-status=live}}

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."{{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 |access-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026204202/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/25/20931992/trump-administration-aclu-lawsuit-separate-families-immigrant-policy-1500 |url-status=live }}

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.{{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 |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021225526/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/us/migrant-children-separated.html |url-status=live }}

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". 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". 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".{{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 }}

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".{{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}}

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.{{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 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=June 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621172009/https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/trump-admin-s-tent-cities-cost-more-keeping-migrant-kids-n884871 |url-status=live }} 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.

To handle the large amount of immigration charges brought by the Trump administration, federal prosecutors had to divert resources from other criminal cases.{{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 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623151245/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/22/zero-tolerance-immigration-crackdown-diverting-resources-drug-cases/727532002/ |url-status=live }} The head of the Justice Department's major crimes unit in San Diego diverted staff from drug smuggling cases. 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. In October 2018, USA Today reported that the number of federal drug-trafficking prosecutions on the Southern border plummeted, as prosecutorial resources were diverted to the family separation policy.{{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|archive-date=November 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122093645/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2018/10/10/border-drug-trafficking-prosecutions-plunged-zero-tolerance/1521128002/|url-status=live}}

It was reported in June 2018, that the Trump administration planned 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 U.S. border illegally.{{cite magazine|url=https://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|archive-date=June 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620012327/http://time.com/5316722/nonprofit-paid-458-million-trump-administration-detain-migrant-children-family-separation/|url-status=live}}

In July 2018, it was reported that HHS had spent at least $40 million over two months to care for and reunify migrant children, and that the HHS was preparing to shift more than $200 million from other HHS accounts.{{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|archive-date=July 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718101306/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/18/trump-migrants-health-programs-692955|url-status=live}} Such transfers by federal agencies must be 1% or less of the donor funds and 3% or less of the recipient funding. The requests have to be sent to the relevant congressional subcommittees and approved by the chair. By September 2018,{{Clarify|reason=is this the same chunk of money grown larger or an additional chunk?|date=January 2025}} 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 some from cancer research and HIV/AIDS prevention, to cover the costs associated with detaining children and delaying releasing them to adults.{{Cite news|url=https://www.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|archive-date=September 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929032917/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/20/politics/hhs-shifting-money-cancer-aids-immigrant-children/index.html|url-status=live}}

File:Crying children who have been separated from their families at the U.S. border.webm 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 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?"{{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 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215180751/https://www.propublica.org/article/kirstjen-nielsen-homeland-security-crying-children-white-house-press-briefing |url-status=live }}

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".{{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 |archive-date=October 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006152106/https://www.splcenter.org/news/2020/06/17/family-separation-under-trump-administration-timeline |url-status=live }} 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.{{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|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181036/https://www.propublica.org/article/children-separated-from-parents-border-patrol-cbp-trump-immigration-policy|url-status=live}}

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."{{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 |archive-date=June 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624234219/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/full-transcript-face-the-nation-for-june-24-2018/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{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 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181140/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRtEP-8S3s8 |url-status=live }}

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 psychiatrist consulted by the Tribune compared the practice to what "the old Soviet Union used to do".{{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|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=June 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626080018/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/20/immigrant-children-forcibly-injected-drugs-lawsuit-claims/|url-status=live}}{{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|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=June 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621003620/http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/usworld/immigrant-children-forcibly-injected-with-psychiatric-drugs-lawsuit-claims/article_79e5fe52-8046-5e9c-82f6-e851765b3f3a.html|url-status=live}}{{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|first1=Aura|last1=Bogado|first2=Patrick|last2=Michels|first3=Vanessa|last3=Swales|first4=Edgar|last4=Walters|date=June 20, 2018|access-date=May 20, 2023|archive-date=September 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925081909/https://revealnews.org/article/migrant-children-sent-to-shelters-with-histories-of-abuse-allegations/|url-status=live}}{{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}}{{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|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=June 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621030304/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/report-finds-long-history-of-abuse-in-child-migrant-shelters.html|url-status=live}}

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.

File:Kamala Harris questions Kevin McAleenan - March 2019.ogg 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.{{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 |archive-date=July 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731124808/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/07/31/trump-administration-must-seek-consent-before-giving-drugs-to-migrant-children-judge-rules/ |url-status=live }}

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 U.S. Justice Department.{{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|access-date=April 9, 2019|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203192413/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/immigrant-children-sexual-abuse.html|url-status=live}}

Government data from 2018 suggests that the family separation policy did little to deter migrants from crossing the U.S. border illegally.{{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|archive-date=August 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808141320/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|url-status=live}}

In March 2018, more than a month prior to the official "zero tolerance" decision, the American Civil Liberties Union (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.{{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 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619012656/https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/09/politics/aclu-lawsuit-separating-immigrant-families/index.html |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |access-date=June 18, 2018 |work=CNN}} In June 2018, the ACLU 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.{{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|archive-date=June 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627173326/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-flores/aclu-class-counsel-for-migrant-kids-dispute-doj-on-crucial-flores-detention-issue-idUSKBN1JL2U3|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181059/https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A2c196b47-ccbd-4802-b4a2-ce4eedcca9be|url-status=live}} On June 26, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the family-separation policy.

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 Constitution. This is particularly so in the treatment of migrants, many of whom are asylum seekers and small children." 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". The injunction barred the U.S. 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.

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."{{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 |archive-date=March 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311012330/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration/us-judge-may-force-trump-administration-to-reunite-more-families-separated-at-mexico-border-idUSKBN1QQ0EO |url-status=live }}

Judge Sabraw set a status hearing for July 6, 2018.{{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|archive-date=June 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627062558/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/26/politics/federal-court-order-family-separations/index.html|url-status=live}} 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 Department of Justice lawyer.{{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 |archive-date=July 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706204606/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/migrant-children-court-families.html |url-status=live }} 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".

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.{{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 |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810161203/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 |url-status=live }}

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. The suit was filed in the U.S. 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 and Equal Protection Clause.{{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 |access-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117034457/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-states-lawsuit-family-separations-20180626-story.html |url-status=live }} Washington Attorney General 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".{{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|archive-date=June 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624043732/http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article213608904.html|url-status=live}}

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".{{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 |archive-date=July 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705230222/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/my-son-is-not-the-same-new-testimony-paints-bleak-picture-of-family-separation |url-status=live }}

{{Update section|date=January 2025}}

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".{{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 }}

Separately, Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia, a Guatemalan woman, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. 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 U.S. authorities from separating the family, and money for damages of pain and suffering.{{Cite web|title=Mejia-Mejia v US: Petition for Habeas Corpus and Complaint for Declaratory, Injunctive and Monetary Relief|date=June 19, 2018|website=Politico|url=https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-19e0-d1bc-afef-5dfb78760000|access-date=June 21, 2018|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809173008/https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-19e0-d1bc-afef-5dfb78760000|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=June 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621013445/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/19/family-separation-trump-administration-lawsuit-654822|url-status=live}}

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.{{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|archive-date=May 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516165951/https://ctmirror.org/2018/07/05/two-immigrant-children-connecticut-sue-trump-administration-family-separations/|url-status=live}}

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.{{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=NBC 7 News|access-date=September 7, 2018|archive-date=November 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107141257/https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/Lawsuit-Seeks-Payout-for-Immigrant-Families-Separated-at-Border-492621531.html|url-status=live}}

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 U.S. District Court Judge 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.[https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-23ef-d8b4-aff7-e7efaec70000 Filing of June 21, 2018] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207211534/https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-23ef-d8b4-aff7-e7efaec70000 |date=December 7, 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 |archive-date=June 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627030543/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/21/trump-administration-flores-agreement-change-662962 |url-status=live }} The DoJ filing claims that limits on detention must be ended due to "a destabilizing migratory crisis". Attorney Peter Schey, who represents the child plaintiffs in Flores, vowed to oppose the filing.{{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}} He filed an opposition on the grounds of there having been no significant change in circumstances warranting such a revision of the ruling.[https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-509b-d1bc-afef-5c9b2ea40001 Filing, Attorney Peter Schey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809120850/https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-509b-d1bc-afef-5c9b2ea40001 |date=August 9, 2020 }}, 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|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126103825/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/flores-agreement-immigrant-families-separated-689494|url-status=live}} 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.[https://www.justice.gov/opa/case-document/file/1077076/download Filing of June 29, 2018] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809131808/https://www.justice.gov/opa/case-document/file/1077076/download |date=August 9, 2020 }}, 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|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203171008/https://www.vox.com/2018/6/30/17520820/families-together-detention-separate-camp-military|url-status=live}}

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.{{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|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710011257/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/09/judge-rejects-trump-request-flores-immigrant-children-704019|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710163758/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/07/10/federal-judge-denies-trump-administrations-request-to-indefinitely-detain-families/|url-status=live}} Gee wrote: "Absolutely nothing prevents Defendants from reconsidering their current blanket policy of family detention and reinstating prosecutorial discretion."{{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 |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-date=October 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006004706/https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000164-8176-d66b-a166-8bf6cdaa0000 |url-status=live }}

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".{{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 |archive-date=August 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828012624/https://www.npr.org/2019/08/26/754518950/19-states-and-dc-sue-administration-over-plan-to-detain-migrant-children-indefin |url-status=live }}

File:Imagery from the Central Processing Center in McAllen TX.webm Office of Public Affairs—Visual Communications Division]]

The Ursula detention facility, operated by 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 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".{{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 }}

• Port Isabel Detention Center, operated by 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.
• South Texas Detention Facility, operated by the GEO Group, in Pearsall, Texas{{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|archive-date=March 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316140305/https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Government-moves-fitfully-secretly-to-reunite-13064936.php|url-status=live}}
• 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.{{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|archive-date=November 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116094603/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|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=September 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925171755/https://www.wnyc.org/story/migrant-mom-poised-reunite-children-new-york-shares-detention-story/|url-status=live}}
• 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.{{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}}

• 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.{{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|archive-date=February 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206172445/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|url-status=live}}
• 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.{{Cite news|url=https://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|archive-date=July 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706200135/https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/07/06/miami-republican-barred-from-visiting-immigrant-children-living-in-homestead-compound/|url-status=live}} The facility had been opened and closed during the Obama administration and was recently reopened.

File:Homestead Florida Unaccompanied Minors.jpg, 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.{{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|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213193916/https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-migrant-shelter-20180614-story.html|url-status=live}}
• 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.{{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|archive-date=June 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616190555/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/14/tent-city-tornillo/|url-status=live}} 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.{{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|archive-date=June 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617195341/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/17/texas-beto-orourke-tent-city-tornillo-immigration/|url-status=live}}
• Three facilities in Combes, Raymondville and 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.{{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|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213181944/https://apnews.com/dc0c9a5134d14862ba7c7ad9a811160e|url-status=live}} 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".

File:Jacket Message Overshadows First Lady's Visit to Migrant Children.webm]]

File:First Lady Melania Trump Visits Texas.webm

• 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.{{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|archive-date=February 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217182020/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/melania-trump-jacket.html|url-status=live}}{{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 }}
• An 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 and the Bronx are among nine facilities in New York state housing separated children.{{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 |archive-date=January 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107040756/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/nyregion/children-separated-border-new-york.html |url-status=live }} 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".{{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 }}

File:B-Roll of Temporary Soft Sided Facilities Donna Texas..webm 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, Texas, and applied to use it as a detention center for up to 200 migrant youth "from age 0{{nbs}}to 17".{{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 |archive-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216013909/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Immigrant-children-s-shelter-considered-for-12999084.php |url-status=live }} 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"{{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|archive-date=November 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109023656/https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/19/houston-southwest-key-undocumented-separated-children-immigration/|url-status=live}} 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."
• Military detention camp for migrant families at Fort Bliss
• Military detention camp for migrant children on Goodfellow Air Force Base

Authorities had separated families without a plan to reunite them, resulting in numerous cases of parents and children having no contact since being forcefully separated. According to a Boston Globe investigation, it was difficult to reconnect children to their parents because children and parents entered two separate systems: parents were put in ICE custody and then entered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to face criminal prosecution while children were classified as an "unaccompanied alien child" and transferred to the U.S. 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. 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".{{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}}

Efforts to reunify families began within HHS in late June 2018. Alex Azar, then Secretary of HHS, requested that Scott Lloyd from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) find the parents of separated children who were housed by HHS. Lloyd told Azar that the parents were in ICE custody; he could not provide more specific information. Lloyd had previously told his staff at ORR not to maintain lists of separated children, despite his staff insisting that such lists would be necessary for any future reunification effort.

Frustrated with Lloyd, Azar delegated reunification efforts to Robert Kadlec, who was the assistant secretary of preparedness and response at HHS. Because Kadlec had little experience with the HHS shelter system, he put the project under the direction of Jonathan White, a social worker at HHS who had previously worked in ORR, where he had opposed the policy of family separation. Kadlec and White then began attempting to identify which of the approximately 12,000 children in HHS care had been separated from their parents at the border. Kadlec described the disturbing process of shifting through the photographs: "You could just see that what was happening was devastating to these kids ... Some of the children were infants. Some were 1 and 2 years old, 5 years old, 10 years old."

File:DHS-HaveYouBeenSeparatedFromChild(ren).jpg

After the formation of the HHS reunification task force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials attempted to block reunification efforts, according to internal emails. Matthew Albence, head of enforcement and removal operations at ICE, told his colleagues that reunification "wasn't going to happen unless we are directed by the Dept to do so."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), through a class action lawsuit, attempted to speed the reunification process. On June 26, 2018, Dana Sabraw, the federal judge overseeing the case, ordered all separated children under five years old be reunified with parents within two weeks, and all children be reunited with their parents within thirty days.

Azar declared on July 5, 2018, that the government would meet the July 10 deadline for uniting children under five with their parents, and stated that DNA testing was being used to speed up matching parents and children.{{cite magazine |date=July 5, 2018 |title=The Latest: Government Will Meet Court Deadlines |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2018-07-05/the-latest-government-will-meet-court-deadlines#close-modal |access-date=July 5, 2018 |magazine=U.S. News & World Report}} 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.{{cite news |author=Aamna Mohdin |date=July 27, 2018 |title=Read: Immigrant parents describe signing reunification waivers they didn't understand |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/ |access-date=July 29, 2018 |publisher=Quartz}}[https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/ms-l-v-ice-plaintiffs-reply-support-motion-stay-removal ACLU filing of July 25, 2018].

File:Separated Parent's Removal Form.pdf

The government failed to meet the deadline set by Judge Sabraw, and on August 1 she declared that the lack of progress was "just unacceptable". On August 2, the Justice Department filed in court that the ACLU should take responsibility for reuniting families, rather than the federal government.{{Cite news |last=Schmidt |first=Samantha |date=August 3, 2018 |title=Trump administration puts burden on ACLU to find deported parents separated from children |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/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804014423/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/03/trump-administration-puts-burden-on-aclu-to-find-deported-parents-separated-from-children/ |archive-date=August 4, 2018 |access-date=August 3, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en}} 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.{{Cite news |last1=Kopan |first1=Tal |last2=Chavez |first2=Nicole |date=August 3, 2018 |title=Judge slams Trump admin for suggesting ACLU, others should find deported parents |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/03/politics/trump-administration-aclu-deported-parents/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122032537/https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/03/politics/trump-administration-aclu-deported-parents/index.html |archive-date=November 22, 2020 |access-date=August 3, 2018 |work=CNN}} The ACLU formed a steering committee to help reunite families, working with the law firm Paul, Weiss and representatives from several NGOs. The Trump administration did not supply the steering committee with phone numbers for deported parents for several months, and it was another year before the HHS inspector general provided the names of 1,500 additional families that had been separated.

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 had been difficult to locate the parents of about 1,500 children who had been taken from their parents in 2017, during the pilot program, because many of those parents were deported without their children and records were not kept. The Trump administration refused funding or assistance to help find the missing parents; NGOs and the ACLU provided both volunteer workers and 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 said that the COVID-19 pandemic added to the difficulty of finding parents, but they were committed to reuniting all of the remaining children.{{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/ |access-date=October 21, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

One month after taking office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order establishing a family reunification task force within the government to work with the ACLU steering committee. The executive order also created a pathway for parents who had been deported while separated from their children to return to the United States to reunite with their children. A review done by the Biden administration in 2021 found that more than 1,400 parents had been deported without their children.

File:Rally to end Family Separation Cleveland-04.jpg]]

File:Follow Free Our Future. Families Belong Together. Abolish ICE. March and Day of Action.jpg

The policy attracted significant condemnation from a wide array of sources including medical, scientific, religious and human rights groups. 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 U.S. 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."{{cite web |date=January 23, 2018 |title=More Than 200 Experts in Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice Oppose Government Plans to Take Children From Parents at Border |url=https://www.theyoungcenter.org/stories/2018/1/16/experts-oppose-plans-to-take-children-from-parents-at-border |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620180849/https://www.theyoungcenter.org/stories/2018/1/16/experts-oppose-plans-to-take-children-from-parents-at-border |archive-date=June 20, 2018 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |publisher=Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights}} A June 2018 survey found it to be very unpopular with the public, with approximately 25 percent of Americans supporting the policy. Some politicians and observers have compared the detainment of children by the U.S. government to concentration camps.{{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 |access-date=April 16, 2024 |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029144644/https://thehill.com/latino/392727-hayden-sees-commonality-between-zero-tolerance-border-policy-and-nazi-germany/ |url-status=live }}{{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 |access-date=July 11, 2018 |archive-date=November 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101032506/https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/06/20/nazi-germany-comparisons-with-family-separation-in-us-are-fair-comment.html |url-status=live }}

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.{{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 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 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=January 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127102246/https://www.apa.org/advocacy/immigration/separating-families-letter.pdf |url-status=live }} Together, they represent more than 250,000 doctors in the United States. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris described the family separation policy as "a recipe for toxic stress".{{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 |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809181228/https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/06/08/290091/doctors-say-kids-separated-from-parents-at-border-face-toxic-stress-serious-health-risks/ |url-status=live }} Dr. Irwin Redlener, who co-founded Children's Health Fund, called the policy "dehumanizing" and described it as a form of child abuse.{{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 |access-date=June 17, 2018 |archive-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818040135/https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/-this-is-child-abuse-by-government-says-dr-irwin-redlener-1256853059535 |url-status=live }} 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."{{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|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809153003/https://sites.google.com/view/letter-to-secretary-nielsen/home?authuser=0|url-status=live}}

Many religious groups opposed the policy including Christian organizations such as:

• The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops{{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|archive-date=November 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109040332/https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/us-bishops-condemn-immigration-policies-separate-families-border|url-status=live}}
• The National Association of Evangelicals{{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|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615151405/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/religious-leaders-implore-trump-white-house-stop-separating/story?id=55905666|url-status=live}}
• The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America{{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 |archive-date=December 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201185227/https://www.goarch.org/-/archdiocese-statement-in-defense-of-children-and-families |url-status=live }}
• Episcopal Church{{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|archive-date=November 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120160651/https://episcopalchurch.org/posts/ogr/family-separation-update|url-status=live}}
• United Methodist Church{{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|archive-date=November 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111225707/https://www.umc.org/en/content/faith-leaders-statement-on-family-separation|url-status=live}}
• African Methodist Episcopal Church{{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|archive-date=December 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204135430/https://www.ame-church.com/news/cob-statement-re-condemning-immigrant-family-separation/|url-status=live}}
• Presbyterian Church{{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|archive-date=October 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025052510/https://oga.pcusa.org/section/mid-council-ministries/immigration/family-detention/|url-status=live}}
• Evangelical Lutheran Church{{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|archive-date=November 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033857/https://elca.org/News-and-Events/7935|url-status=live}}
• United Church of Christ{{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}}
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints{{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|archive-date=January 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121031546/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-statement-separation-of-families-at-us-mexico-border|url-status=live}}

In response to a criticism of the policy by a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the policy, citing the Bible.{{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|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809180143/https://apnews.com/0bcc5d5d077247769da065864d215d1b/Sessions-cites-Bible-to-defend-separating-immigrant-families|url-status=live}} On June 18, a group of more than 600 United Methodist Church clergy and laity announced that they were bringing 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".{{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|archive-date=June 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619022637/http://www.wsfa.com/story/38450661/faith-leaders-call-family-separation-cruel-and-detrimental|url-status=live}} The last charge refers to Sessions' "misuse" of Romans 13, which he quoted to argue that secular law must always be obeyed.{{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 |archive-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619180330/http://s3.amazonaws.com/Website_Properties/news-media/documents/A_Complaint_regarding_Jefferson_Sessions.pdf |url-status=live }} The charges were dismissed in August 2018.{{Cite web | title=Complaints against Sessions dismissed {{!}} UMNews.org | url=https://www.umnews.org/en/news/complaints-against-sessions-dismissed | access-date=2025-05-24 | website=www.umnews.org}}

All four major denominations of American Judaism opposed the policy:

• Reform
• Conservative
• Orthodox
• Reconstructionist{{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|access-date=June 18, 2018|archive-date=July 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703214630/https://www.jta.org/2018/06/17/news-opinion/united-states/orthodox-union-joins-jewish-communal-letter-opposing-family-separations|url-status=live}}

Islamic organizations also opposed the policy.{{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|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}}

Pope Francis supported statements by U.S. Catholic bishops who called the policy "contrary to our Catholic values" and "immoral", adding "It's not easy, but populism is not the solution."{{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|archive-date=February 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209164154/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-trump-family-separation_us_5b2a3458e4b0a4dc9922a221|url-status=live}}

Evangelist Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, called the practice "disgraceful" and said "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".{{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|access-date=June 17, 2018|archive-date=June 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618165923/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/us/trump-immigration-religion.html|url-status=live}}

Many professors and administrators in colleges and universities have likened the policy to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.{{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|archive-date=June 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606192705/https://www.chronicle.com/article/College-LeadersProfessors/243714/|url-status=live}} Open letters signed by various scholars denounced the policy and called for its halt.{{Cite web|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1imbob01ErX1NVY6JC_wmlnxfea3MmWUa/view|title=Letter to DHS from Faculty.pdf|work=Google Docs |access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809153018/https://drive.google.com/file/d/1imbob01ErX1NVY6JC_wmlnxfea3MmWUa/view|url-status=live}}

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.{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=September 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906011605/http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/policy/letters/2018/Org%20Letter%20to%20President%20Trump%20re%20Family%20Separation%2006-08-2018.pdf |url-status=live }}

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 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. 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.{{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.

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 U.S. and international law".{{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|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216152806/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/usa-family-separation-torture/|url-status=live}}

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".{{Cite news|url=https://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|access-date=July 11, 2024|archive-date=April 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404021543/https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/06/15/nelson-rubio-oppose-breaking-up-immigrant-families/|url-status=live}}{{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}} 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.{{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|archive-date=January 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173511/https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3036|url-status=live}}{{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 |access-date=June 18, 2018 |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028025107/https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/06/18/sen-joe-donnelly-cosponsor-keep-families-together-act-immigration-reform/709409002/ |url-status=live }}{{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 |access-date=June 18, 2018 |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126062058/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feinstein-says-shes-introduced-bill-to-keep-immigrant-families-together/ |url-status=live }} By June 18, the entire Democratic caucus of 49 senators (including the two independents who caucus with the Democrats) had signed on as cosponsors.{{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|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125032850/https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-joe-manchin-the-final-democratic-holdout-signs-onto-bill-to-stop-family-separations|url-status=live}}

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.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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=May 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516151221/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/19/is-trump-losing-his-support-in-congress-for-separating-families-at-the-border/ |url-status=live }}
• Other congressional Republicans, such as Representative Steve King of Iowa, supported the policy.
• 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.
• 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).

Republican Senator Ted Cruz initially defended the policy in a June 11 interview.{{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|archive-date=June 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620102056/http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/391699-cruz-defends-trump-policy-of-family-separation|url-status=live}} 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{{'"}}.{{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|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809152411/https://theweek.com/speedreads/779979/ted-cruz-introduces-bill-curtail-migrant-family-separation-must-stop-now|url-status=live}} 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.{{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 14 News|date=June 18, 2018|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809213514/https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/cruz-promises-bill-to-deal-with-border-crisis|url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/393069-schumer-rejects-gop-proposal-to-address-border-crisis/|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}}

In February 2019, Democratic Representative for Illinois Jan Schakowsky described the family separation policy as "state-sponsored child abuse [and] kidnapping of children".{{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|archive-date=November 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128224127/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-official-says-his-agency-would-never-have-supported-n969036|url-status=live}}

In early 2018, Trump requested that state governors send National Guard troops to the U.S.–Mexico border. In response to the family-separation policy, at least eight governors either recalled National Guard troops from the U.S.–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, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Delaware, and Rhode Island (which all had Democratic governors) and Maryland and Massachusetts (which both had Republican governors).{{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 }} Democratic Governor 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." (Some additional states—Vermont and Oregon—had declined Trump's request before the family-separation policy had been implemented.)

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).{{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|archive-date=November 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120041027/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/5-governors-wont-keep-national-guard-on-the-border.html|url-status=live}}

The policy has also been condemned by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called it an "unconscionable" effort by a state to deter parents by abusing children.{{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|archive-date=January 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123092816/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/un-human-rights-chief-family-separations-forced-by-trump-administration-are-child-abuse/|url-status=live}}

United Nations special rapporteurs from the 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.{{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|archive-date=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514163658/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/un-trump-children-family-torture-separation-border-mexico-border-ice-detention-a8411676.html|url-status=live}}{{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|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213213334/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23245&LangID=E|url-status=live}}

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has formally requested additional information from the U.S. government on the location and plans for affected children.{{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}}

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.{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124145736/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/politics/first-ladies-trump-family-separation.html |url-status=live }} 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."{{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|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126153909/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/17/politics/melania-trump-children-separated-immigration/index.html|url-status=live}} 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".{{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 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217181128/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 |url-status=live }}

A bipartisan group of 75 former U.S. 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".{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=October 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001063820/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-attorneys-jeff-sessions-family-separation_us_5b28ef60e4b0a4dc9920a0ba |url-status=live }}{{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 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=February 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208224927/https://medium.com/@formerusattorneys/bipartisan-group-of-former-united-states-attorneys-call-on-sessions-to-end-child-detention-e129ae0df0cf |url-status=live }} The former U.S. attorneys also pointed out that the policy is not required by law. An employment law firm offered free legal advice to federal and state workers who refused to enforce the policy.{{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|archive-date=March 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301124802/http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/conscientious-objectors-to-trump-border-policy-get-free-legal-aid-1261516355689|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Federal Employees Who Want to Buck Trump's Family Separation Policy Can Now Receive Free Legal Advice|work=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|archive-date=September 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916141816/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|url-status=live}}

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."{{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|archive-date=November 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109025658/https://www.mediaite.com/tv/andrew-napolitano-says-trump-is-trying-to-use-children-as-negotiating-chip-its-child-abuse/|url-status=live}} 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 U.S. has signed and ratified the UNCAT, and signed but not yet ratified the CRC.{{cite magazine|url=https://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|archive-date=November 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127150301/https://time.com/5317551/family-separation-policy-torture/|url-status=live}}

Family separations were widely condemned in the business community, including by conservative groupings like the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable.{{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}}{{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|archive-date=November 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109042221/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|url-status=live}}

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.{{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}} The previous day, a veteran flight attendant for a major airline recounted an episode in which an 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".{{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}}

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.

{{Main|Protests against Trump administration family separation policy}}

File:Rally to end Family Separation Cleveland-03.jpg, 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."{{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}}

Inspired by a 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

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.{{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}} 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 White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders tweeting that the Democrats and media "exploited this photo of a little girl to push their own agenda".{{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}}

The family-separation policy is unpopular among Americans, as shown by four polls; on average, two-thirds of Americans oppose the policy.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}} 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). 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.{{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}}{{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}}

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 "actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border", referring to the photographs of children separated from their parents.{{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}}

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Senator Chuck Grassley and House Speaker Paul Ryan have asserted that the Trump administration are required to separate migrant families due to the 1997 Flores settlement,{{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}}{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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. Neither the Flores settlement nor the TVPRA, however, require or recommend family separations.

Following Trump's executive order ending family separation 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."{{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}} Conservative commentator Ann Coulter on June 17 dismissed immigrant children as "child actors weeping and crying" and urged Trump not to "fall for it".{{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 |access-date=June 20, 2018}} Fox News television host Laura Ingraham on June 18, 2018, described the facilities where migrant children were housed as "essentially summer camps".{{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|access-date=June 19, 2018}}{{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}} She described criticism of the immigration policies as "faux liberal outrage".{{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}}

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."{{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}}

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 stuff" and designating them as Four Pinocchios—the Post's highest rating of falsehood.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

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" and "the horrible law"){{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}} on a number of occasions despite there being no law to mandate the separation of migrant parents and children.{{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.}}{{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.'}} The Trump administration's own "zero tolerance" policy, announced on April 6, 2018, is responsible for spurring the separations.{{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}} 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.{{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|date=June 15, 2018}}

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.{{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}}

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.{{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}} 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).{{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}} 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.{{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}}

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.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

During a June 18, 2018, White House press conference, 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.{{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.}}

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.{{Cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-head-nielsen-says-immigration-crisis-is-not-new-calls-on-congress-to-act |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}} 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.{{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}}

Sessions' role in implementing the family separation policy was to instruct hesitant U.S. attorneys along the Mexican border to go through with the policy.{{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}}

Following Christian opposition to the policy, Sessions controversially defended it by citing the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament,{{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}}{{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}} 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."{{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}} Several commentators noted that before the Civil War, Romans 13 was used by advocates of slavery to justify it, and to attack abolitionists.{{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}}

On June 19, 2018, Sessions disputed claims by former CIA Director Michael Hayden that the separation of the immigrant families at the border was similar to Nazi concentration camps.{{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}}{{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}} 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.

In April 2019, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said that the Trump administration "always intended to" reunite separated families.{{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}}

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.{{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 |date=July 26, 2019 |access-date=July 27, 2019}}

In 2022, journalist Caitlin Dickerson, writing in The Atlantic, reported on the long term effects of the sudden, forced separations on the children and parents. She also investigated the history of the separation policy, tracing its roots back to 9-11. She interviewed a caseworker at a child detention facility who said that she and the other staff felt it "was unlike anything they'd ever seen," with the separated children completely inconsolable. Therapists working with the children and families said the need for therapy would continue.

Dickerson reported on the governmental employees most involved in the separation policy including: Kevin McAleenan, the head of Customs and Border Protection (CBP); Tom Homan, the head of ICE; Kirstjen Nielsen, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary; the highest-ranking law enforcement official responsible for the policy, Attorney General Jeff Sessions; and Steven Miller. Dickerson labeled this group the "hawks". None of them, except Nielsen, granted her an interview. Nielsen told her that she regretted her decisions to go along with the plan.

Dickerson wrote that the removal of children from their parents was not an accidental result of attempts to limit illegal immigration, but 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 implementation 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.{{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 |date=August 11, 2022 |access-date=August 16, 2022}}

According to Forbes magazine, "In December 2023, 'A federal judge . . . banned the separation of families at the U.S. southern border to deter migrants from entering the country as part of a settlement to a Trump-era lawsuit,' reported Axios. 'Under the settlement, a policy similar to the one the Trump administration implemented will be banned until December 2031.'{{cite web | url=https://www.axios.com/2023/12/08/trump-immigrants-family-separation-policy-ban | title=Federal judge prohibits Trump-era migrant family separation policy for 8 years | date=December 8, 2023 }} Under the terms of this settlement, the Biden administration agreed that for 8 years, the government would not separate families due to unauthorized border crossings. The agreement, termed the "Ms. L. settlement agreement",{{cite web | url=https://www.aclu.org/documents/ms-l-amended-settlement | title=Ms. L - Amended Settlement }} also allowed members of separated families to receive limited work permits, limited legal assistance, limited assistance with reunifying families, limited housing assistance, limited medical care and limited psychological counseling.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jan/17/trump-policy-family-separation-future | title=Trump's border policy tore apart many families. Nobody knows what happens to them now | work=The Guardian | date=January 17, 2025 | last1=Vasquez | first1=Tina }}

In November 2024, Donald Trump announced that Thomas Homan, who played a role in the inception of the separation policy, would be appointed "border czar", responsible for deportations. Homan was asked if families would be separated during deportation and he replied, "Families can be deported together."{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-homan-ice-border-czar-7dea915b5ea43896390b8020d254f887 | title=Trump names Tom Homan, former director of immigration enforcement, as 'border czar' | website=Associated Press News | date=November 11, 2024 }}

In January 2025, it was estimated that 1,000 families separated under the first Trump administration had not yet been reunited.{{cite news |last1=Vasquez |first1=Tina |title=Trump's border policy tore apart many families. Nobody knows what happens to them now |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jan/17/trump-policy-family-separation-future |access-date=25 March 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=17 January 2025}}

In February 2025, Reuters reported that ICE planned to locate over 600,000 people who entered the U.S. as children without their parents, some of whom were no longer children and some of whom had rejoined and were living with parents, and either deport the children, if deportation had already been ordered, or serve notice to appear in immigration court.{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Marisa |last2=Hesson |first2=Ted |last3=Cooke |first3=Kristina |title=Trump officials launch ICE effort to deport unaccompanied migrant children |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-directs-ice-agents-find-deport-unaccompanied-migrant-2025-02-23/ |access-date=25 March 2025 |work=Reuters |date=23 February 2025}} On March 6, 2025, ICE began to detain migrant parents and children together in a Texas detention facility. The first group contained 3 minor children.{{cite news |last1=Montoya-Galvez |first1=Camilo |title=Trump revives practice of detaining migrant families with children |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-revives-practice-of-detaining-migrant-families-with-children/ |work=CBS News |date=7 March 2025}}

• Child displacement
• Deportation in the second presidency of Donald Trump
• Family immigration detention in the United States
• Flores Agreement
• Prison–industrial complex
• Migrant detentions under the first Trump administration
• Unaccompanied Alien Children in U.S. immigration detention

Protests:

• Abolish ICE
• Occupy ICE
• Protests against the Trump administration family separation policy

{{reflist|refs=

• {{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}}
• {{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 (journalist)|author-link2=Josh Dawsey|url-access=limited}}
• {{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-defiant-as-crisis-grows-over-family-separation-at-the-border/2018/06/18/210c78ca-730f-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html|title=Trump defiant as crisis grows over family separation at the border|last1=Rucker|first1=Philip|date=June 18, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=June 19, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191026194347/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-defiant-as-crisis-grows-over-family-separation-at-the-border/2018/06/18/210c78ca-730f-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html|archive-date=October 26, 2019|last2=Dawsey|first2=Josh|last3=Kim|first3=Seung Min|author-link=Philip Rucker|author-link2=Josh Dawsey|author-link3=Seung Min Kim|url-access=limited}}
• {{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'|last=Mindock|first=Clark|date=June 22, 2018|work=The Independent|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514163658/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/un-trump-children-family-torture-separation-border-mexico-border-ice-detention-a8411676.html|archive-date=May 14, 2019}}

• {{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}}
• {{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}}
• {{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}}

• {{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|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|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}}

• {{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}}

{{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}}

{{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 (journalist)|author-link2=Josh Dawsey|url-access=limited}}

{{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}}

}}

• 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.

{{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

{{First presidency of Donald Trump}}

{{Donald Trump}}

{{adopt}}

{{Immigration to the United States}}

Category:2018 controversies in the United States

Category:Anti-immigration politics in the United States

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Child abuse in the United States

Category:Child welfare in the United States

Category:Children and migration

Category:Foster care in the United States

Category:Human rights abuses in the United States

Category:Illegal immigration to the United States

Category:Immigration policy of Donald Trump

Category:Internments in the United States

Category:Penal system in the United States

family separation

Category:Right of asylum in the United States

Category:Jeff Sessions

Category:Trials regarding custody of children

family separation

Category:United States Department of Health and Human Services

Category:United States Department of Homeland Security

Category:United States Department of Justice