The Trump Administration Deported 471 Parents Separated From Their Kids At The Border

Source: BuzzFeed News

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that the government deported 471 migrant parents separated from their children at the US–Mexico border without first giving them the option to reunify.

It was the first concrete number from the government about the number of parents deported without their children during the spike in family separations in 2018. In court filings last summer, the Justice Department indicated the number was in the 400s, but the numbers continued to change as new information came in and as reunifications began under a federal court order.

More than eight months after a judge in San Diego ordered the government to reunify separated families, information has continued to trickle in about the scope and aftermath of family separations. More than 2,800 children were separated from a parent crossing the border and placed in US custody, and it was clear early on that hundreds of those kids had a parent who had been deported. In Wednesday's filing, the government offered a concrete number.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been leading the effort to locate deported parents outside of the United States. Those parents are given a choice about whether to reunify with their children where they are, or waive reunification, which allows their children to stay in the United States and pursue asylum claims.



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