There Was No Precedent Or Playbook To Follow: A Look At The Chaos Behind The Family Reunification Process
The Trump administration had worked up to its plan to separate immigrant children at the border, but HHS and DHS had to quickly develop a new one when President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course.
The Wall Street Journal:
Inside The Trump Administration’s Chaotic Effort To Reunite Migrant Families
For months, federal immigration officials along the 268-mile stretch of border that separates New Mexico and West Texas from Mexico had been testing a policy of separating migrant parents from their children. What they didn’t plan for was how to reunite them.When a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reconnect more than 2,600 children separated from their families after a national outcry, the two government agencies in charge—the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services—didn’t have a firm grip on the number of children involved or exactly where they were. (Malas and Caldwell, 7/27)
The New York Times:
‘Why Did You Leave Me?’ The Migrant Children Left Behind As Parents Are Deported
Adayanci Perez Chavez, who was separated from her father when they crossed the border from Guatemala more than two months ago, has watched as one playmate after another has checked out of the migrant children’s center in Michigan where they have spent their days studying, playing and meeting with their case managers. One by one over the past few weeks, 90 percent of the children at the center, managed by Bethany Christian Services in Kalamazoo, have been put on planes and reunited with parents who had been held at immigration detention centers across the country. (Jordan, 7/27)