Page 6 - AT

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 18 January 2019
Watchdog: Thousands more children may have been separated

were transferred to the cus-
tody of Health and Human
Services.
The practice prompted an
outcry, with church groups
and lawmakers calling the
separations inhumane.
Trump ordered an end to
the separations on June 20.
At the time, a federal judge
who was already hearing
the case of a mother sep-
arated from her son ruled
that children must be re-
united with their parents.
Since the court order, 118
children have been sepa-
rated.
Despite "considerable" ef-
fort by Health and Human
Services to locate all the
children placed in its care,
the report said officials
were still finding new cases
as long as five months after
the judge's order requiring
In this Dec. 13, 2018, file photo, teen migrants walk in line inside the Tornillo detention camp in Tornillo, Texas. reunifications.
Associated Press "There is even less visibility
for separated children who
By COLLEEN LONG and RI- took place as parents were dren who passed through The number of families fall outside the court case,"
CARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR criminally prosecuted for the agency's care during coming across the border investigators concluded.
Associated Press illegally entering the coun- the 2017 budget year was has grown even as over- They said it's not clear the
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thou- try under President Donald 40,810. The separated chil- all illegal border crossings system put in place to track
sands more migrant chil- Trump's "zero tolerance" dren had already been re- have decreased dramati- separated children is good
dren may have been split policy. leased to sponsors, who are cally compared with his- enough. And the lack of
from their families than the "It's certainly more," Max- generally parents or other toric trends. Over the past detail from immigration au-
Trump administration previ- well said. "But precisely how close relatives. three months, families thorities continues to be an
ously reported, in part be- much more is unknown." The inspector general did made up the majority of issue.
cause officials were step- Maxwell said investigators not say why the children Border Patrol arrests. The border remains a cru-
ping up family separations didn't have specific num- had been separated be- The Administration for Chil- cible for the Trump ad-
long before the border pol- bers, but that Health and fore the zero-tolerance dren and Families, the di- ministration, with a partial
icy that prompted interna- Human Services staff had policy. Immigration officials vision under Health and government shutdown that
tional outrage last spring, estimated the tally to be in are allowed to take a child Human Services that man- has dragged on nearly a
a government watchdog the thousands. from a parent in certain ages the care of unac- month over the president's
said Thursday. Lee Gelernt, an American cases — serious criminal companied minors, said it demand for $5.7 billion for
It's unclear just how many Civil Liberties Union attor- charges against a parent, generally agreed with the a border wall that congres-
family separations oc- ney who sued on behalf of concerns over the health findings and noted the re- sional Democrats are un-
curred at the U.S.-Mexico a mother separated from and welfare of a child or port did not find that the willing to provide.
border; immigration of- her son, said the separa- medical concerns. That agency lost track of chil- The inspector general's of-
ficials are allowed under tion policy "was a cruel di- policy has long been in dren under its care. It also fice was also looking into
longstanding policy to sep- saster from the start. This place. noted new policies were in other aspects of the sepa-
arate families under cer- report reaffirms that the Katie Waldman, a spokes- place to help track newly rations, including the health
tain circumstances. Health government never had a woman for Homeland Se- separated children. And and mental well-being of
and Human Services, the clear picture of how many curity, said the report rein- the court never instructed the children who had been
agency tasked with car- children it ripped from their forced what officials have officials to determine the separated. It expects to
ing for migrant children, parents." long said. number of children sepa- have other reports on the
did not adequately track Most of the tens of thou- "For more than a decade rated before the June 26 topic.
them until after a judge sands of children who come it was and continues to be ruling. Democratic Rep. Bennie
ruled that children must be into government custody standard for apprehended Last spring, then-Attorney Thompson of Mississippi,
reunited with their families, cross the border alone. But minors to be separated General Jeff Sessions said chairman of the House
according to the report the report found that in late when the adult is not the anyone caught crossing Homeland Security Com-
by the agency's inspector 2016, 0.3 percent of chil- parent or legal guardian, the border illegally would mittee, said he would hold
general. dren turned over to Health the child's safety is at risk" or be criminally prosecuted. the government account-
Ann Maxwell, assistant in- and Human Services had there's a record of a "seri- Families were brought into able in the matter. "The
spector general for evalu- crossed with a parent and ous criminal activity by the custody by U.S. Border Trump administration, with
ations, said the number of were separated. By the adult," she said. patrol officials, then their its unique blend of incom-
children removed from their summer of 2017, that per- In some cases, however, parents taken to criminal petence, cruelty, and dis-
parents was certainly larger centage had grown to 3.6 Homeland Security officials court. If the parents were regard for basic decency,
than the 2,737 listed by the percent, officials said. The said a parent had a crimi- gone longer than 72 hours misled the American public
government in court docu- watchdog did not give ex- nal history but did not offer — the length of time Border on one of its most heinous
ments. Those documents act numbers, but the total details on the crimes, the Patrol is allowed to hold policies to date," he said in
chronicled separations that number of migrant chil- watchdog reported. children — the children a statement.q