Family Separation at the Southern Border
By Adam W. Marshall, Esq.
December 10 is Human Rights Day, a day commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
This year, Human Rights Day also marks the conclusion of Footage’s ambitious 16 Days of Activism. During these sixteen days, Footage raised funds to support Footage programs and held multiple virtual workshops in an effort to amplify the voices of women and girls subject to forcible displacement, gender-based violence and other atrocities throughout the world.
A particularly egregious example of an official policy in the recent past that has targeted migrants, refugees, and those forcibly displaced is the practice of family separation as pursued by the United States at its southern border with Mexico.
In May 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it had implemented a “zero tolerance” policy under which one hundred percent of all immigrants making unlawful crossings at the southwest border, including those seeking asylum, were referred for prosecution. Adults were held in custody pending their criminal trials or deportation hearings; the children of anyone detained were taken from their parents and put in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for placement in an Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter or other temporary facility.
A particularly egregious example of an official policy in the recent past that has targeted migrants, refugees, and those forcibly displaced is the practice of family separation as pursued by the United States at its southern border with Mexico.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security publicly acknowledged for the first time in June 2018 that it had separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents or legal guardians along the southern border just between the preceding April 19 and May 31. However, a form of family separation had also been pursued approximately a year before in a pilot program in El Paso, Texas. Ultimately, the total number of children known to have been separated from their families is over 5,500.
The goal of this practice, according to a draft report by the DOJ Inspector General as reported by The New York Times, was to “act as a deterrent to parents bringing their children into the harsh circumstances that are present when trying to enter the United States illegally,” even though the harsh circumstance of family separation was created by the U.S. government itself. This same report quoted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions as saying, “We need to take away children,” as well as then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who opined that it did not matter how young the children were.
These unspeakably cruel statements are put into further horrific context when individual experiences are recounted, experiences like those of Juana who, according also to The New York Times, fled Honduras with her four girls (ages nine to sixteen) because their lives had been threatened there.
Ultimately, the total number of children known to have been separated from their families is over 5,500.
Juana was separated from her girls at the U.S. border. The children were thereafter released to their father in Virginia, to whom they were not close, and Juana was deported to Honduras. The U.S. government then located Juana to determine whether she wanted her children to be deported to Honduras to be with her. In what she called one of the hardest decisions of her life, she declined because, although her children were struggling in the United States without her, she felt the conditions in the shelter in Honduras where she was living were unsafe for her children.
And while authorities were able to contact Juana, many separated parents were not found and therefore did not even have the opportunity to make an unbearably difficult choice like hers.
Reasons for failing to find parents include: the incomplete records kept by the federal government that made location of parents outside the United States very difficult; the fact that entities responsible for parts of the process, like HHS, were not told of the full extent of the practice and were consequently ill-prepared to subsequently match children with their parents; the fact that computer systems were not updated to accommodate the information necessary to track and match parents outside the country with their children inside the country; the fact that the Trump administration had no intention of ever reuniting families and perceived of no need to follow parents or children after separation; and complications associated with COVID-19 that have hampered attempts to locate parents outside the United States.
After public outrage over family separation, zero tolerance was ostensibly discontinued in June 2018. Nevertheless, family separation continued when Border Patrol officials could use allegations of gang involvement or drug activity by parents as a rational for taking custody of children for their own safety. Pro Publica and others have reported that the bases for these actions were often vague, unproven, or minor offenses.
And while authorities were able to contact Juana, many separated parents were not found and therefore did not even have the opportunity to make an unbearably difficult choice like hers.
Despite successful efforts to reunite many families, often only under court order, as of November 2020 there remained a minimum of 666 children whom officials have been unable to reconnect with their parents. At least 60 of these children were under the age of five when they were first separated. The fate of each of these children remains unclear.
A new presidential administration should bring change to many aspects of federal immigration policy, and the treatment of children brought into the system will have to be addressed. Among recommendations is a set of four science-based policies recently proposed in Scientific American:
· Accelerate family reunification to minimize the short-term and long-term damage prolonged separation may cause.
· Implement appropriate childhood development programs at the southern border so that fundamental health, nutrition, and other basic needs of minors are met.
· Bolster the care and custody of children that are lawfully detained, with a focus on placement with families rather than in detention centers.
· Provide access to social safety nets for immigrant families, especially those with children.
As of November 2020 there remained a minimum of 666 children whom officials have been unable to reconnect with their parents. At least 60 of these children were under the age of five when they were first separated. The fate of each of these children remains unclear.
It remains to be seen what concrete steps the Biden administration will take with respect to families with children crossing the U.S. border. Hopefully, women like Juana will no longer be forced to make unthinkable choices between keeping their families intact and keeping their children safe.
