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Separation of immigrant children

Detained children in temporary facility awaiting transfer to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Detained children

Photos provided by Custom and Border Protection to reporter on tour of Ursula detention facility in McAllen, Texas. Reporters were not allowed to take their own photos.

The Trump administration family separation policy is the enforcement aspect of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policy, implemented in April 2018, that involves prosecuting all adults who are detained at the U.S.–Mexico border, whether apprehended during an illegal crossing or, in a number of reported cases, legally presenting themselves for asylum. Under the policy, termed "zero tolerance", federal authorities separate children from their parents, relatives, or other adults who accompanied them in crossing the border, sending the parents to federal jails and placing children and infants under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the policy led to the separation of around 2,000 children from their parents in its first six weeks, though others said the figure may have been much higher. In April and May 2018, an average of 45 children were taken from their parents per day, with a total of 30,000 children expected to be detained by August 2018. According to internal documents of the Border Patrol, 91% of the parents whose children had been forcibly taken away were being charged only with a misdemeanor.

In June 2018, U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal from the 7th congressional district of the state of Washington spoke with women detainees at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center. Jayapal said women spoke of "fleeing threats of rape, gang violence and political persecution". She said more than half of the women were mothers who had been separated forcibly from their children, some as young as 12 months old, and said that many did not know where their children were being detained. Jayapal said, "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."

Even before the policy was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on May 7, 2018, it began to attract significant criticism. In March 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement to address media reports of the plan, saying that using separation of parents from their children as a tool of law enforcement was harmful to the children and not acceptable. In January 2018, more than 200 child welfare organizations released a letter calling for the Trump Administration to abandon plans to forcibly separate children from their parents, saying that separation will cause long-lasting untoward effects on the children. Following the May announcement, dozens of protest demonstrations were held, attracting thousands. In June, dozens of protest demonstrations were held, attracting thousands. In Washington, D.C., Democratic members of Congress marched in protest. Religious groups and figures have voiced opposition to the policy, including Pope Francis, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Southern Baptist Convention. 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, and human rights activists have criticized that the policy, insofar as it is also applied to asylum seekers, defies Article 31 of the Refugee Convention.

The policy is notably unpopular, more so than any other major bill or executive action in recent memory. Poll aggregates show that approximately 25% of Americans support the policy, although a majority of Republicans support it.