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Amy Goldstein
Journalist on Health Policy and Other Social Policy Issues
A Government Report released on Thursday indicates that the government Trump would likely have separated thousands of migrant children from their parents at the US border than has been made public before, but the federal government's efforts to track these children have been so poor that the exact number is unknown.
Report published by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services No one has consistently counted the number of separated children until a prosecution the Trump Government's "zero tolerance" policy triggered last spring, in which the government attempted to institute criminal proceedings against all parents who crossed the border illegally, thus depriving them of their children .
As a result of the lawsuit, the government identified approximately 2,700 separated children in federal custody in June, some of whom were infants. and young children.
But Health and Social Services (HHS) officials say that there has been a sharp increase in the number of separated children separated children about a year earlier, little long after President Trump came to power, according to the report. Investigators now claim that thousands of other children were abducted from their parents or other guardians by border or immigration officers during this period, and then released.
The report states that this estimate was based on "informal monitoring" of the HHS refugee refugee office and did not include more specific figures.
Following the trial, the government began to look more closely at separated children. According to the report, a further 118 children were abducted from their parents from July to November, most often because immigration law enforcement officials said that adults had criminal histories or either other problems.
Although previous administrations also separated minors at the border – usually when they suspected that the child had been smuggled, or if the parent seemed unfit – the report indicates that the practice seems much more common under Trump and started about a year before the administration officials publicly acknowledged it.
Separated children accounted for 0.3% of the total. Investigators discovered that unaccompanied minors had been arrested by HHS at the end of 2016, towards the end of the Obama administration. In August 2017, this percentage had increased more than tenfold to 3.6%.
The announcement made by the government in May to significantly increase the number of layoffs due to the zero tolerance policy sparked an international outcry, prompting Trump to end this practice belatedly. June.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the government following the separations, said the report released Thursday "reaffirms that the government has never had a clear idea of the number of people in the country. children torn from their parents … We'll be back in court for this latest revelation. "
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman dismissed the finding that thousands of children were killed. additional migrant children reportedly separated, saying the report did not provide a solid basis.
Spokesperson Katie Waldman said the report "refutes" the ministry's claim that the government federal government separated children from parents with criminal records or other evidence that they had been a danger for many years.] HHS spokesperson Evelyn Stauffer said the report t illustrated the "Herculean work" done by the staff of the Refugee Resettlement Office, which is part of the administration of the Department for Children and Families, to determine which children were under its care had been separated and to be reunited. their parents.
Stauffer noted that the investigators had found "no evidence whatsoever suggesting that [the refugee office] had lost track of his children. to his care "- a reference to allegations of last year triggered by reports that some sponsors have not responded to inquiries from government officials after the release of minors.
The 24-page report of the HHS Internal Monitoring Group provides new insights into especially before and after the court order resulting from the ACLU's lawsuit, which required HHS officials to closely monitor the status of separated children and to submit reports to a federal judge.
It also draws attention to faulty data systems and poor communication between federal agencies, leaving HHS officials uncertain this summer about the separation between minors in their custody.
Asked Thursday whether these systems were sufficient, HHS Inspector General Ann Maxwell told reporters, "The jury remains
[‘Deleted’ families:’ What went wrong with Trump’s family-separation effort]
In another interview, Maxwell said that informal monitoring by Health officials initially consisted of an efugee office spreadsheet and later an online document that field staff could add to if they heard anecdotally about contract facilities for separated children.
The report is the first in a series of "briefs" published by the Office of the Inspector General. planning this year to shed light on the health care system in which tens of thousands of minors apprehended at the border are housed in a network of private institutions run by subcontractors and scattered throughout the country.
Shelters serve as relays for youth while the Refugee Office and social workers look for potential sponsors – usually adult parents – with whom they can live while waiting for immigration hearings.
Subsequent reports will include personal background checks and the selection of staff hired in institutions, their response to incidents in which children are injured, and their ability to provide appropriate medical and mental health care.
Juveniles detained by HHS cross the border alone, but the agency also takes care of children that the government separates from their parents.
According to the report, the most common reason cited by DHS for health officials for the last 118 separations was that the parents had a criminal record. But information about the parents' criminal record was often so gloomy, the report says, that it is unclear whether separations are justified or whether children can be safely returned to their parents. When the refugee bureau was looking for more information, according to the report, Homeland Security officials "did not always answer".
Last fall, the DHS produced an unpublished report documenting the chaos caused by family separations. 19659028] Among other things, the report revealed that 860 migrant children were being held for more than three days in border patrol control cells and that inadequate measures had been taken to trace the identity of children too young to speak. .
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