Trump Administration Returns to Family Separation Policies

 

Federal agents at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, N.J., in June. Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

‘Interior separation is approved’

	by Jess Bidgood and Hamed Aleaziz

It was one of the most explosive policies of President Trump’s first term: the systematic separation of migrant children from their parents as the families crossed into the United States from Mexico.

Now, a more targeted version of that practice is back, far from the border.

My colleague Hamed Aleaziz, who covers immigration, found at least nine casesin which migrant parents already in the country were separated from their children after they refused to comply with deportation orders. “Interior separation is approved,” officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote in one case.

Officials denied that there was any new policy on family separations. They told Hamed that parents had the option of staying with their children by leaving the country with them.

Today, I called Hamed, who told me the effort represented a new front in the administration’s effort to persuade as many people as it could to leave the country.

JB: You spoke with several parents who have been separated from their children in recent months, all of whom were in ICE custody. What did they tell you?

HA: They expressed anguish, first and foremost, at being separated from their kids. They were still coming to grips with this idea that they were not with their children — and that there weren’t any prospects of being with their children anytime soon.

One thing that stuck with me was a father who told me he blamed himself for being separated from his child. He said that he’d had a nice life in Russia, and that he’d ruined it by being a dissident. He said that he had brought his family to the United States, and that, ultimately, the reason he wasn’t with his child was because of his decisions.

Hundreds of Children Remain Separated From Their Families

Getty Images

As Reunification Deadline Looms:

Hundreds of Families Remain Separated

Shortly before today's court-ordered deadline for the reunification of families separated at the border, only 1,442 children had been reunited with their parents--one in three children remains separated. Some 468 parents have already been deported and there are considerable fears they may not be reunited without their children.

During recent days, children and parents who had been transferred away from the border area have been moved back to the region in anticipation of reunification. The ACLU had filed a suit requesting that any deportations be delayed for a week so that parents who have been reunified with children can make decisions important decisions--including the possibility of having children remain in the U.S. with close family members so that the children, who have separate cases from the parents, could be considered for asylum.

120 parents reportedly "waived" their rights for reunification--this could mean they are allowing their children to file a separate case to see if they could remain in the U.S--or in some cases, the parents may have been confused about what they were signing.

In the meantime, reports continue to emerge:

378 children have been released to close family members or reunited wih families in other ways, or they could have turned 18 and "aged out".

The parents of over 700 children have been deemed "ineligible" to be reunited with their children due to "criminal" charges--which apparently include hundreds of parents charged with the "crime" of unlawful entry or re-entry. This number includes the parents who have already been deported, have other charges against them, or who had been released and can't be located. We have no information on all of the charges, nor is there information about what will happen to the children of these "ineligible" parents.

Some parents who have been deported have told lawyers that they felt coerced to sign documents for "voluntary" departure, and did not understand that their children would not go with them. Many parents simply did not understand the "options" presented to them by officials.

Both parents and children, even after reunification, are experiencing emotional distress, with many children apparently still fearful, feeling that their parents had abandoned them, and suffering the effects of separation and their treatment in detention. Some 200 accounts collected by about 100 lawyers and coordinated by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law found horrible conditions for children in the Border Patrol stations, where they are held before being sent to detention centers, as well as stories of abuse and inhumane treatment in the centers themselves.

Some members of Congress who traveled to the border last weekend, were also critical of what they witnessed, as in this video.

Families Belong Together- Demonstration. Sacramento June 30

Seeing thousands of immigrant families torn apart, I am devastated and beyond furious.

Join me on June 30 in Washington, D.C., or in a city near you to demand an end to this disgusting family separation policy.

Sacramento Rally.  10 AM.  ICE Administration Building.  650 Capitol Mall.

Organized by Move On, ACLU, and many more.

Endorsed by Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Democratic Socialists of America,  and more

A new Trump administration policy has been separating children—including babies younger than a year old—from their parents at our border, and detaining them in cages and tent cities. It is cruel and appalling, and it is our moral obligation to demand that it stops.

Even now that Trump is feeling pressure, he's not solving anything, as there is no plan to reunite the thousands of kids who have already been taken from their parents. And instead of stopping the imprisoning of children, he's proposing locking kids up with their families in cages for indefinite spans of time. I have visited the inside of a "detention" center, and make no mistake, they are prisons in which families and children are treated like criminals for fleeing life-threatening situations and seeking asylum.

I just gave birth to my first child four weeks ago. When I hold him in my arms, my heart breaks with the weight of my love for him, and I can’t help but imagine the devastation these parents and their terrified children are going through. As a parent, I can’t help but feel a responsibility to speak out against this horrifying situation. As an American, I know it is my duty to condemn these dehumanizing actions and demand that this never happen in our country, on our watch.

Many of us feel this pain and call to action so deeply—which is why hundreds of thousands of us are preparing to take to the streets at more than 600 events around the country next weekend to declare Families Belong Together.

Join me and hundreds of thousands of people who have committed to showing up in Washington, D.C., and in cities around the country on June 30 to demand that the Trump administration keep families together and reunite the thousands of families it has already ripped apart.

Have you ever read about a moment of crisis in history and wondered how people could let something so evil happen? This is one of those moments. We have to speak up. The Trump administration chooses to brutally punish families like this. It’s immoral, it’s wrong, and we can force them to stop.

We're seeing that our outrage is working. But this crisis is far from over. Now's the time to declare that these brutal policies must end, families must be treated with dignity, and the monsters who created these policies deserve to be held accountable.

Families come to the U.S. seeking a better life than was possible for them in the country they came from. Can you imagine living in such a dangerous and untenable situation, that your best option is to subject your family to a harrowing and life-threatening journey, only to arrive in a new country and have your child ripped from your arms with no indication of whether you’ll ever see them again? Can you imagine your terrified and confused child imprisoned by themselves?

MoveOn, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the ACLU, and others, are calling for June 30 to be a Families Belong Together national day of action. More and more Americans are mobilizing, and we need you to join us.

In solidarity,

—America Ferrera

Sacramento Rally.  10 AM.  ICE Administration Building.  650 Capitol Mall.

Organized by Move On, ACLU, and many more.

Endorsed by Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Democratic Socialists of America,  and more

FAMILIES BELONG TOGETHER—ATTEND A JUNE 30 EVENT!

SEARCH 700+ EVENTS BY ZIP CODE:

or browse by state

Donald Trump and his administration have cruelly separated thousands of children from their families. Now they're jailing families -- and they haven't yet reunified the families already brutally torn apart. 

But we won't allow it to continue. On June 30, we're rallying in Washington, D.C., and around the country to tell Donald Trump and his administration to permanently end the separation of kids from their parents. End family internment camps. End the "zero-humanity" policy that created this crisis. And reunify the children with their parents.

Trump and his administration have been systematically criminalizing immigration and immigrants, from revoking Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to ramping up intimidating ICE tactics. 

Join us on June 30 to send a clear message to Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress: Families Belong Together! 

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