A report released Monday by a coalition of human rights groups found that 1,360 children separated from their parents under the first Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy have not yet been reunited and are subject to punitive actions. It is estimated that the crime is causing immeasurable pain to the families involved. To prevent border crossing.
The 135-page report was produced by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), and the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, and was published by immigrant rights groups Donald The announcement was made in support of President-elect Trump’s policies. He will return to power with officials who helped design and implement mass family separation.
“The forcible removal of children from their families has caused significant and foreseeable harm,” the report said, and it includes public and internal government documents, documents from legal proceedings, government It examines the findings of the investigation and features interviews with parents and children who were forcibly separated. Divided by the Trump administration.
“Parents were distraught as they realized they would not be reunited with their children anytime soon,” the report continues. “Some children sobbed uncontrollably. Many children felt abandoned, especially when immigration officers did not tell them where their parents were or gave answers that turned out to be lies. Almost everyone was confused.”
The group says the first Trump administration separated more than 4,600 children from their families during its four years in office, and that nearly 30% of those children are missing and “may remain separated from their parents.” It is estimated that
“Governments should never target children to send messages to parents.”
Although family separation predates Trump’s first term and continues under President Joe Biden, experts argue that the Trump administration’s policies were unique, widespread and cruel. There is. The group behind the new report said the Trump administration’s efforts to separate families “consisted of enforced disappearance and may have amounted to torture.”
“We need to take the children away,” Jeff Sessions, then President Trump’s attorney general, reportedly said in a May 2018 phone call with five federal prosecutors. , citing a handwritten note from one of the prosecutors.
Michael García Bochenek, HRW’s senior children’s rights advisor and author of the new report, said in a statement on Monday that the new report “documents one example after another of the calculated brutality of forced family separation policies. It’s horrifying to see that.”
“Governments should not target children to send a message to parents,” Bochenek added.
According to the report, the separation left both parents and children deeply traumatized.
“Immigrant children who have been forcibly separated from their parents exhibit greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than children who have never been separated,” the report said. . “Parents repeatedly told Tijuana-based legal services organization Al Otro Lado that forced separation from their children was “the worst thing I’ve ever experienced,” and “continuous sleep deprivation.” Disorders, nightmares, loss of appetite, loss of interest, fear of the future, constant worry, feelings of hopelessness, loss of concentration.”
The report added: “In May 2018, a man committed suicide after[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]officers forcibly separated him from his children.”
HRW, TCRP, and the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic call on Congress and the Biden administration to “take comprehensive steps to redress the injustices suffered by these families,” and the Department of Homeland Security (soon to be led by the far-right ). “We will only separate families when it is in the best interest of the child and adopt standards that presumptively keep families together,” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in a statement.
Trump campaigned in 2024 on a promise to launch the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” and said in an interview aired last week that “there is no need to separate families.” Ta.
“In a very humane way, we will send all families back to their countries of origin,” Trump said, hinting that children, who are American citizens, could also be deported.
Asked if he intended to reinstate the “zero tolerance” policy, President Trump said, “We need deterrence.”
“If someone comes here illegally, they leave. It’s that simple,” he added. “If they came here illegally, but the family came here legally, the family has a choice: the illegal immigrant can leave, or we can all leave. ”
The ACLU, which represents separated families in court, has vowed to take swift legal action if the incoming Trump administration reinstates “zero tolerance.”
“We hope the Trump administration recognizes the American public’s outburst and worldwide disgust at separating young children from their parents and does not try to separate families again,” ACLU attorney Lee Geraint told Time magazine last month. “I’m doing it,” he said. “But if that were to happen, we would be right back in court.”
