A report from Brookings, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, says far more American children are likely separated from their parents during the immigration sweeps than previously known.
A report released Monday estimates that more than 100,000 U.S. children have had their parents detained since President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign began last year. The analysis cites ProPublica reporting on parental detention, which can often lead to family separation.
During the Trump administration, family separation policies at the U.S.-Mexico border were repealed following widespread outrage. Currently, families are being separated amid nationwide searches by immigration officials.
Brookings noted that about 400,000 people have been detained by immigration authorities since Trump returned to office. However, it is nearly impossible to know how many family separations have occurred because of this, as the government does not keep track of it.
Families are also now being divided in ways that are more dispersed, more hidden, and harder to trace.
Brookings made that estimate by using census information to roughly estimate the number of children a detainee would have. It estimates that approximately 200,000 children have a parent in custody, including 145,000 American children. The think tank notes that the actual figure may be slightly higher or lower.
ProPublica took a different, more conservative approach, relying on government data obtained through a public information lawsuit brought by the University of Washington. In the first seven months of President Trump’s second term alone, at least 11,000 American children were found to have had their parents detained. It also found that President Trump deports about four times as many American mothers of children per day as President Joe Biden.
As already mentioned, our numbers are almost certainly an underestimate. For example, government data relies on detainees’ self-reporting of whether they have children. In some cases, agents don’t ask or parents don’t share family details for fear of what might happen to their child.
Tara Watson, one of the authors of the Brookings report, said there are “many families in situations that are not being written about.” “Knowing what’s going on with our children is important both for transparency and from a child health and well-being perspective. How many of them are leaving the United States? How many of them are staying in the United States with immediate family members? How many of them don’t actually know what their situation is?”
ProPublica also tracked multiple families who experienced sudden separations and found a variety of outcomes for their children.
Doris Flores, a mother from Honduras, was separated from her nursing infant after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested her and her fiance at the same time. Desperate to find someone to care for the baby and Flores’ 8-year-old daughter, she asked a local pastor to take them.
In response to Brookings’ findings, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, reiterated that the agency “does not separate families,” adding that parents will be asked whether they would like to be removed with their children or instead placed with someone they designate. DHS said this is consistent with past administrations’ practices.
However, the guidelines for ICE officers meeting with parents have changed. The document known as the “Parental Interests Directive” has been given a new name under the Trump administration: the “Parental Restraint Directive.” That language has been removed from the preamble, which once directed officials to provide a “humane” response to immigrant parents.
