Where Are the Children? Tracking Family Separation at the Border

By Rebekah Entralgo, Amanda Michelle Gomez and Diana Ofosu, ThinkProgress

24 July 18

The government has reunited 508 of 2,654 migrant kids and their parents.

ver since the Trump administration began splitting up families at the border, there has been a lack of transparency when it comes to the number of children separated from their parents.

ThinkProgress has launched a project to hold the federal government accountable and track the number of children reunited with their families, as well as those who remain separated.

This post will be updated as new information becomes available.

According to the most recent government figures, less than one in five separated kids have been reunited with their family. The administration said it isn’t obligated to reunite every family, citing that not every adult is fit to parent; the judge okayed this.

Family separation at the border is a direct result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of criminally prosecuting migrants arriving at illegal entry points at the southern border since May. Because children are legally prohibited from being detained indefinitely, they are separated from their parents and sent to shelters across the country.

The policy has not been properly enforced, however, and according to the government’s own figures, at least seven families who arrived at official ports of entry were separated. Additionally, the government has reported that at least one separated child and parent may have been U.S. citizens.

Many of the shelters holding the separated kids, run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have a terrible, documented history of abuse towards migrant children. As a ThinkProgress investigation revealed, an HHS-contracted shelter that cares for children separated at the border, in addition to unaccompanied minors, currently employs a man with a history of sex crimes against minors.

On June 26, a federal judge overseeing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the government ordered all 103 children under the age of five years old to be reunited with their parents by Tuesday, July 10 — an act which the government failed to do, reuniting only four of the roughly 100 children under five by the deadline. The judge also ruled that all children ages five and older need to be reunited with parents by July 26. 

The administration cited a host of reasons why it couldn’t meet the first court deadline, including having deported at least 12 parents without their children, referencing one parent who has “an outstanding warrant” for a DUI, and noting that two adults aren’t parents but grandparents.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw has repeatedly scolded HHS in court for its disorderly handling of reunification — a process that has forced the agency to divert about $200 million from other critical health programs. Officials hadn’t thoroughly documented parentage of kids and federal agencies, instead, began to DNA test every family member to determine a biological relationship. Some parents were even told to pay for DNA testing or other parts of the process, like transportation. One parent was told to wire around $1,900 to Western Union to be reunited with their child.

“It is failing in this context,” Sabraw told the administration, though the judge has also credited officials for trying and acting in good faith.

When families are reunited, some have been released at night in unfamiliar locations with no help. One mom and her six-month-old child were left at a bus stop until midnight when they finally obtained a ticket with help from advocates.

Then, families must reckon with the experience and trauma of separation. Some kids had trouble immediately recognizing their moms or dads when they were reunited.

“He didn’t recognize me,” Mirce Alba Lopez told the New York Times of her 3-year-old son, Ederson, her eyes forming tears. “My joy turned temporarily to sadness.”

Ultimately kids are left traumatized, citing anxiety, eating disorders, and recurring nightmares.

The ACLU, which is representing migrant families in court, asked the judge for the administration to create a mental health fund for these migrants kids. It’s unclear whether the government will do this or whether it will face any consequences for its “zero tolerance” policy, which has failed to deter families from migrating to the United States as it was originally intended to do.

For now, it still needs to reunite them with their parents.