Who Began Separating Children And Parents From Undocumented Immigrants?

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he inherited and ended a policy from President Obama that separates children from their parents. The same federal judge, Judge Sabraw, sided with the Trump administration in January 2020, stating that the government “acted within its authority when it separated”. The Obama and Bush administrations also separated families, but their rates were less than the Trump administration’s. The government separated children from their parents or legal guardians because the adults had been referred for prosecution.

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly revealed to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the administration is considering separating immigrant children. The makeshift shelter was built in response to an exodus of unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America, but those children did not arrive with their parents. A “law to separate families” was enacted prior to April 2018, and the federal government is powerless not to enforce it.

Thousands of children split from their families at the US southern border are being held in government-run facilities. Nearly 2000 immigrant children have been separated from their parents in the last six weeks. The Trump administration plans to take a tougher approach to families entering the US illegally by separating parents from their children. The Department of Homeland Security is considering separating children from parents caught crossing the border.