Questions Remain Weeks After Trump Administration Fails to Reunite Children and Parents

Aug 14, 2018

President Trump’s family separation policy has harmed about 2,500 migrant children over the past several months, and serious questions remain about how the administration is treating immigrant families once they are reunited.

Is the administration respecting immigrant parents and children’s rights in immigration court? What specific conditions have parents and children been forced to endure inside immigrant family jails? How, exactly, are migrant families being treated by our government?

To find out, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last month on behalf of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, an organization that represents several families who have experienced the cruel and inhumane consequences of the Trump administration’s family separation policies.

After the administration’s actions sparked weeks of public outrage nationwide, a U.S. district court judge in San Diego ordered the government to reunite families by July 26 and to halt the deportation of reunited families who are entitled to asylum proceedings. These orders were issued in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, Ms. L v. ICE.

Nevertheless, here we are, weeks after the court-ordered July 26 deadline, and hundreds of children are still separated from their parents and locked away in government custody. To make matters worse, stories have emerged of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement coercing parents of children from whom they are separated to sign away their rights. Trump officials have even admitted that the parents of as many as 386 children from whom the parents were separated may have been deported.

To get to the bottom of these abuses, our FOIA request seeks information regarding the following:

  • records related to the policies, forms, and checklists governing background checks and reviews for parentage
  • records related to the policies governing whether parents who have previously been released from detention will be re-detained with their children following reunification
  • what factors are considered in determining whether a family will remain detained together or released upon reunification
  • records related to the policies governing children who remain in the Trump administration’s custody whose parents have been deported

While we wait for the Trump administration to answer our request, here’s what we do know. According to research cited by the Kaiser Family Foundation, “Separating children from their parents exposes them to trauma and toxic stress that can have lifelong negative impacts on their mental and physical health.” Each day, each hour these children remain separated from their parents and families has alarming implications for their personal well-being and their families’ health.

We demand that the Trump administration stop dragging its feet. It’s time to reunite all the families it has torn apart and take responsibility for the human rights abuses it has perpetrated. NILC will not stop fighting for accountability and greater transparency. We need answers, and we need them now.

By NILC staff


More on how the Trump administration is harming children and families

The Latest
Administration’s Cruel and Misguided Decision Not to Extend Parole Program Endangers Families and Communities

Administration’s Cruel and Misguided Decision Not to Extend Parole Program Endangers Families and Communities

Gabrielle Lessard

Oct 11, 2024 Despite widely lauding the program’s success, the Biden administration will not extend the two-year period of lawful U.S. presence granted to people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who entered the United States under a program known...

How the Biden Administration’s Expanded Asylum Ban Puts Lives at Risk and Contradicts American Values

How the Biden Administration’s Expanded Asylum Ban Puts Lives at Risk and Contradicts American Values

Sep 30, 2024 This policy brief analyzes the Biden administration’s decision to finalize and expand its asylum ban first established in an interim final rule in June 2024.

NILC Statement on Move to Permanently Enforce Asylum Restrictions by the Biden Administration

NILC Statement on Move to Permanently Enforce Asylum Restrictions by the Biden Administration

Sep 30, 2024 WASHINGTON — Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement in response to the Biden administration's regulation that would permanently enforce the sweeping asylum restrictions it implemented over...

The Orantes Injunction: Protections for Detained Salvadorans After a Worksite Raid

The Orantes Injunction: Protections for Detained Salvadorans After a Worksite Raid

Sep 12, 2024 Information for attorneys and legal workers representing persons detained in immigration worksite raids (or in any enforcement action) about the Orantes' permanent injunction.