Trump administration family separation policy
The Trump administration's family separation policy, implemented in 2018, was a controversial approach to managing undocumented immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. This policy emerged from a "zero tolerance" stance that mandated the prosecution of all undocumented immigrants, leading to the separation of children from their parents during the detention process. Following their separation, children were placed in facilities across the country, with some entering foster care, while their parents were held in custody. The policy faced widespread criticism for its humanitarian implications, prompting President Trump to issue an executive order later that year to end family separations, allowing families to be detained together unless the child's welfare was at risk.
However, ongoing challenges remained, including the government's inability to track and reunite many separated children with their families. In 2019, concerns were raised about the psychological impacts on children who may not be returned to their original families. The administration's handling of this issue led to significant backlash from both political sides and prompted subsequent administrations to address the repercussions of the policy. In 2021, the Biden administration took steps to officially end the zero-tolerance policy and establish a task force for family reunification, reflecting ongoing efforts to rectify the impacts of the previous administration's approach. The issue of family separation remains a critical topic in discussions about immigration policy and humanitarian rights in the United States.
Trump administration family separation policy
The Trump administration’s family separation policy began in 2018 when the US Justice Department under President Donald Trump revised its policies regarding the treatment of undocumented immigrants along the southern border of the United States. Under Trump’s new “zero-tolerance” policy, all undocumented immigrants would be detained and prosecuted. While this practice was conducted, the administration found that detaining families in one location was impractical, so it separated children from their parents.
The children were transferred to facilities across the United States. Some were put into foster or adoptive care. After receiving significant criticism from both liberals and conservatives, President Trump issued an executive order rescinding the policy. Under the new orders, families would be detained together unless doing so would put the welfare of the children at risk.
In 2019, it was revealed that the US government had kept insufficient records to locate the thousands of children who had been separated from their families. Because of this, government officials admitted that they might not be able to return each child to his or her family. Additionally, a representative of the government voiced concerns about the trauma children may experience when being removed from their adoptive families and returned to their original families.
Background
In 2018, the Trump administration announced a new policy for undocumented immigration in the United States. Attorney General Jeff Sessions described the new legal guidelines as a “zero tolerance” policy for anyone attempting to enter the nation illegally.
When discussing the issue, Sessions described an immigration crisis at the southwest border of the United States. He stated that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had reported a 203-percent increase in undocumented border crossings from March 2017 to 2018, and the number of these crossings was reportedly increasing each month. Sessions blamed Congress for this spike in illegal border crossings, stating that the legislative body had failed to close loopholes in immigration law or pass stronger laws to allow border patrol agents to prosecute a greater number of undocumented immigrants. For this reason, the Trump administration had revised its policies, giving border patrol agents more authority to pursue and prosecute undocumented immigrants. Under this new authority, border patrol agents could prosecute every individual attempting to illegally cross the border.
The Trump administration’s new policy immediately resulted in many changes at the border. The DHS secured both US soldiers and civilian police for additional border security. When dozens of Central Americans attempted to cross the border, the US government closed a busy land crossing station for five hours. Additionally, the government tried to pass a ban on asylum claims.
Such tactics quickly resulted in a reduction of undocumented border crossings. According to Pew Research, undocumented border crossings in the United States fell to their lowest level since 2004. However, many critics of the policy had humanitarian concerns about the reforms. They worried that new detention centers lacked oversight, and many of the arrested migrants were being mistreated. Additionally, many members of the press were concerned that the legislative changes to the American immigration policy were occurring at a pace that was too fast for them to inform the public.
Overview
In 2018, it was revealed that upon being arrested when attempting to illegally cross the border, children were being separated from their parents. Families seeking asylum from conflict in Central and South America were also being separated.
Under previous administrations, whether or not a detained undocumented immigrant was arrested and charged with a crime was under the jurisdiction of the states. In most cases, they were not arrested. However, under the Trump administration family separation policy, all arrested undocumented immigrants were to be charged. The administration decided that it would be impractical for children to be kept with parents who had been arrested. For this reason, after the arrest of the parents, the children of undocumented immigrants were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) while the US Marshal Service retained custody of the parents. After being transferred to HSS, the children were moved to numerous shelters across the United States.
In many cases, children remained separated from their parents for months. Some were not reunited with their parents and instead entered the US adoption system. Unfortunately, the Trump administration was unable to effectively keep records for every immigrant child that entered its system.
In 2018, President Trump issued an executive order ending his policy of family separation, which had been sharply criticized by both Democrats and Republicans. Under the new policy, families would be detained together while they await court dates in both immigration and criminal court. However, the administration retained the right to separate children from families if the collective detainment of the family was deemed to put the child’s welfare at risk.
The following year, the Trump administration announced that it may not be possible to reunite each of the thousands of separated children with their families. The administration stated that it does not have the resources to track and locate each child, and many of the children had already been placed with guardians. Additionally, a representative from HHS argued that separating some the children from the guardians with whom they were placed in the United States might by psychologically damaging. The media and many human rights organizations condemned the administration for what it had done to the immigrant children.
The treatment of children at the border remained an issue of criticism throughout Trump's presidency. A report from the Office of the Inspector General released in January 2021 found that the Department of Justice had mishandled the policy from the beginning and department leaders were aware it would result in family separations. It also indicated Trump himself, along with Sessions and top aides, was responsible for aggressively pushing through the zero-tolerance demand. The administration of President Joe Biden took action against the policy soon after taking office that same month, with acting attorney general Monty Wilkinson signing a memo officially ending the zero-tolerance program (which had technically remained active even after Trump moved to end child separations). Then, in early February 2021, Biden signed an executive order creating a task force aimed at reuniting separated families, while another order called for a review of the Trump policy. In 2023, the Biden Administration settled a 2018 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Trump administration over the family-separation policy. Under the settlement, which did not contain any monetary compensation, the federal government will not be able to reintroduce a family-separation policy for a period of eight years.
Bibliography
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