The Office of Inspector General Report Finds the Government Separated More Families than Reported

Washington, D.C., June 9, 2020— The Officer of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report on May 29, 2020 detailing inconsistencies between the agency’s official reports on family separation and the realities on the ground. The report shows that the government not only separated more children than it previously reported but did so in violation of its own guidelines.

As just one example, the report shows that the government forcibly separated at least 60 asylum-seeking families who legally sought protection at a port of entry. Previously, DHS claimed to have separated only seven families at ports of entry. According to the government’s own guidelines, the “Zero Tolerance” policy applied only to families who didn’t cross at a port of entry (a requirement that itself was unduly burdensome and likely unlawful for families seeking protection). More than half of those separations were based solely on the parents’ prior immigration violations. Eighty percent of these separated children were under the age of 12, and all of them were separated from their parents for at least four weeks, with one remaining separated for more than a year.

At the Young Center, we know that family separation started before the official date of announcement by the government and continues today, nearly two years after the policy was officially ended by executive order and a federal court. Having served hundreds of forcibly separated children, we’ve seen that in nearly every case the separation was unnecessary, unlawful, and destructive to parent-child relationships. We continue to call on Congress to demand transparency from DHS and end new forms of family separation, including the Remain in Mexico program and border closure and corresponding deportation of children to danger under the cover of COVID-19.