For nearly a year before family separation became an official and controversial policy of the Trump administration in the spring of 2018, federal
For nearly a year before family separation became an official and controversial policy of the Trump administration in the spring of 2018, federal immigration agents separated “thousands” of migrant children from their parents. That’s according to a government watchdog report released Thursday.
“OIG found more children over a longer period of time were separated by immigration authorities and referred to HHS for care than is commonly discussed in public debate. How many more children were separated is unknown by us and HHS,” Ann Maxwell, assistant inspector general for evaluations at the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services told reporters.
She said HHS officials estimated the number of kids was in the “thousands,” but would not give a more exact figure.
The report is the first official U. S. government acknowledgement that the Trump administration was using family separation as a measure to deter illegal immigration nearly a year before it became official DHS policy. NPR and other media were reporting the increase of family separations at the border in early 2018.
“Beginning in the summer of 2017, before the formal announcement of the [Trump administration’s] zero tolerance policy, ORR saw a steep increase in the number of children who had been separated from a parent or guardian by the Department of Homeland Security,” according to an OIG press release.
