Family Separation Policy: Thousands of Children Separated from Parents at the Border Under Zero Tolerance
Tier 3Reunification Ongoing2017-06-01 to 2024-01-01
Factual Summary
In April 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum directing all U.S. Attorney's offices along the Southwest border to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal entry offenses. When adults traveling with children were criminally prosecuted, their children were classified as unaccompanied minors and transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services.
More than 5,500 children were separated from their parents during the full scope of the policy, including separations that began during a 2017 pilot program in the El Paso sector before the formal announcement. The Department of Homeland Security's own accounting identified 3,924 children separated between 2017 and 2021.
The DHS Inspector General found in a September 2018 report that DHS was "not fully prepared to implement the Zero Tolerance Policy" and had not anticipated its consequences for children. Border Patrol lacked a centralized system for tracking separated children. Pre-verbal children were not given identification wristbands, and most children were not photographed or fingerprinted during processing, making subsequent reunification extremely difficult.
On June 20, 2018, under sustained public and congressional pressure, Trump signed an executive order directing DHS to maintain family unity "to the extent permitted by law." The order did not address reunification of already-separated families.
On June 26, 2018, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in Ms. L v. ICE, ordering the government to stop separating families and to reunite all separated children within 30 days. The government missed the court's reunification deadlines. As of early 2023, nearly 1,000 children remained unconfirmed as reunited by DHS's own count.
Primary Sources
1. Sessions Zero Tolerance Memo, CRS summary: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45266
2. Trump Executive Order (June 20, 2018): https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-trumps-full-executive-order-on-family-separation
3. DHS OIG Report (OIG-18-84): https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2018-10/OIG-18-84-Sep18.pdf
4. DOJ OIG Report (January 2021): https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/21-028_0.pdf
5. ACLU Ms. L v. ICE court ruling: https://www.aclusocal.org/press-releases/federal-court-orders-reunification-thousands-parents-and-children-torn-apart-trump/
Corroborating Sources
1. American Immigration Council comprehensive report: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/family-separation-policy/
2. SPLC family separation timeline: https://www.splcenter.org/resources/stories/family-separation-timeline/
3. American Bar Association policy resources: https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/priorities_policy/immigration/familyseparation/
Counterarguments and Context
The administration argued that criminal prosecution, including the resulting separation, was necessary to deter illegal border crossings. Officials stated that the law required prosecution of adults for illegal entry and that children could not be held in adult criminal facilities. Trump stated, "I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law." Administration officials claimed the Obama administration had implemented the same policy. Fact-checkers and government records established that prior administrations separated children in specific circumstances such as suspected trafficking but had not implemented a blanket zero-tolerance prosecution policy producing systematic separation.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the policy was a formal government action documented through official directives, multiple Inspector General reports, and court proceedings, but no individual was criminally charged or found personally liable. The core facts are documented by the government's own records.