Young Center and National Advocates Demonstrate Harm of DHS Scare Tactics

Seven months ago, at the same time it was separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entered into a new agreement with Health & Human Services (HHS), the agency responsible for caring for unaccompanied and separated children in federal custody. Under the agreement, DHS now has access to all of the information that HHS gathers about the children—information that is collected in order to safely reunify children with family. Already, DHS has rounded up nearly 200 parents and family members who had stepped forward to sponsor their children’s release from federal custody. The unsurprising result? Other families are now terrified to do the same. Children are spending longer time in detention. They remain separated from parents and families, rather than living with loved ones as their cases proceed in immigration court. And the costs to taxpayers are significant. Learn more here.