Exclusive: On family separations, one arm of the Trump administration raised hundreds of red flags

[riversedge]

Exclusive: On family separations, one arm of the Trump administration raised hundreds of red flags to another

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/politics/family-separation-documents/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_term=image&utm_content=2019-07-25T18%3A43%3A05&utm_source=twCNNp


By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN

Updated 1:05 PM ET, Thu July 25, 2019
Youngest known child separated at border was 4 months old

Current Time 0:15
/
Duration Time 1:44



Washington (CNN)Hundreds of red flags were raised internally within the Trump administration about how families were being separated at the US-Mexico border, including some from months before the controversial "zero tolerance" policy was announced, according to documents reviewed by CNN.



The documents include anecdotes of children allegedly blindsided when they were separated from their parents after being apprehended at the southern border. One referral received by the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties describes a 14-year-old who said he was separated from his father in May 2018 "after a meal break while in custody, and was told by officers that his father would be deported."



In another, an 11-year-old stated that he "was called aside by an officer and then he did not see his father again." A 10-year-old with "poor communication skills" was allegedly separated from his mother in June 2018.



Taken together, the documents provide a rare glimpse into how one part of the Trump administration -- the Department of Health and Human Services -- was flagging cases of concern to another part -- the Department of Homeland Security -- during a tumultuous time that eventually resulted in the separation of thousands of families apprehended at the southern border.

HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children, instructed staff to submit significant incident reports for alleged cases of family separation once the agency started seeing an uptick in cases, according to the agency.



The refugee agency was unaware of the "zero tolerance" separation policy prior to its public announcement in April 2018, and the reports were submitted as incidents of abuse in Homeland Security custody and sent to DHS' Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, an agency official said. The zero tolerance policy was officially implemented in May and ended in June after a public outcry.



A separation would typically occur under the pretense that there was a significant incident with a family member, such as abuse or neglect, that would prompt an incident report.



The procedure continued during zero tolerance. .............................................


Of the 850 referrals to the civil rights office of family separation between January 2018 and June 2018, the overwhelming majority are from HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement. Others are from immigrant advocacy groups.
Twelve children who were 1-year-old or younger were allegedly separated between December 2017 and May 2018, according to the documents..............................

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler cited the documents detailing alleged family separations that were obtained by the committee during a panel hearing.
"These documents are startling," he said.



"Even more surprising, the 12 children under the age of 1, nine of those separations occurred before the Trump administration enacted the zero tolerance policy. In many cases, family separation happened without warning and without giving the children the chance to say goodbye to their families. Many were not told where their families were being taken," the New York Democrat added.
The referrals do not explain how a case was resolved.
Watchdog reports.......

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt

[secondwind]

2. I would bet that the youngest of these are in Grand Rapids, MI... Betsy DeVos territory...

They will be dispersed into "good Christian homes", and never see their parents again.

[gratuitous]

3. "These documents are startling"

Luckily, "startling" isn't impeachable. So kidnapping and torturing children is just another "both sides" he said/she said on the road to making America great again. Twelve children who hadn't even seen their first birthday are separated from their families, and given a lifetime of psychological damage.