On May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would adopt a “zero tolerance” policy toward anyone caught crossing into the US by Border Patrol. All border crossers would be referred to the Department of Justice, and everyone referred would be prosecuted for the misdemeanor of illegal entry.
The family separation crisis at the US border
Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy for asylum seekers is leading to children being taken from their parents.
The family separation crisis at the US border
Why children are being sent to “foster care or whatever” while their parents are sent to jail.
By Dara Lind
The family separation crisis at the US border
The debate over family separation plays into a familiar narrative that’s being pushed by the White House.
By Jane Coaston
The family separation crisis at the US border
Trump hopes the courts will let him detain families like Obama did.
By Dara Lind
The family separation crisis at the US border
Why children are being sent to “foster care or whatever” while their parents are sent to jail.
By Dara Lind
The family separation crisis at the US border
The debate over family separation plays into a familiar narrative that’s being pushed by the White House.
By Jane Coaston
The family separation crisis at the US border
Trump hopes the courts will let him detain families like Obama did.
By Dara Lind
As a result of that policy, dozens of parents have been separated from their children every day; the children are labeled “unaccompanied minors” and sent to government custody or foster care, and the parents are labeled criminals and sent to jail.
To many critics of the Trump administration, separating families is an unpardonable atrocity. Articles depict children crying themselves to sleep because they don’t know where their parents are; one Honduran man killed himself in a detention cell after his child was taken from him.
According to the Trump administration, between May 5 and June 9, 2,342 children were separated from their parents.
As outrage over the family separations mounts, the administration has come under pressure to change course. Lawmakers have proposed different ideas to end the crisis; advocates have called for a day of nationwide protests on June 30.
On June 20, President Trump signed an executive order directing the administration to keep children with their parents in immigration detention while their cases were working their way through the court system. In other words, family separation has now been replaced by family detention.
Everything in The family separation crisis at the US border
The family separation crisis at the US border
The family separation crisis at the US border
The new order replaces family separation with family detention.
By Dara Lind
The family separation crisis at the US border
The family separation crisis at the US border
How family separation became a Trump administration strategy.
By Alvin Chang
The family separation crisis at the US border
The family separation crisis at the US border
The powerful “oxytocin reflex” helps explain why.
By Julia Belluz
The family separation crisis at the US border
The family separation crisis at the US border
It’s rarely been used since the Civil War.
By Emily Stewart
The family separation crisis at the US border
The family separation crisis at the US border
Passing a bill to reunify families will be an uphill battle.
By Ella Nilsen