The Family-Separation Files
The Atlantic is publishing a collection of key internal government documents related to the Trump administration’s family-separation policy, known as Zero Tolerance. The records informed the reporting of my cover story on how it came to be and who was responsible. Our hope is to introduce greater transparency around a policy that gravely harmed thousands of families and whose development and intent were concealed from the public for years. During the Trump administration, more than 5,000 migrant children were taken from their parents as part of a dubious and ineffectual strategy to deter migration across the southern border. Hundreds remain separated today.
[From the September 2022 issue: “We need to take away children”]
These records showcase, among other things, government officials’ attempts to mislead the public; inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent record keeping, which to this day means that a full accounting of separations does not exist; efforts to extend the length of time that children and parents were kept apart; and early and repeated internal warnings about the policy’s worst outcomes, which were ignored.
As you will see, some of the records are marked “pre-decisional,” “deliberative,” or “attorney-client privileged” in an attempt to exempt them from federal disclosure requirements and ensure they would never become public. The Atlantic obtained them only through extensive litigation.
The Atlantic’s records, combined with others secured by the House Judiciary Committee, the progressive nonprofit group American Oversight, and separated families themselves, have been organized and tagged for future use. The collection is far from complete, and many of the documents still contain redactions. However, we hope that this database will prove a useful tool for those engaged in research and documentation of family separations, and that the body of publicly available information will continue to grow.
Jump to Initial separations, Deliberations leading up to the implementation of Zero Tolerance, Zero Tolerance Policy, Misleading the public, Investigations by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Problems with family reunification and attempts to thwart it, Known instances of separation, Collections, Further reading
Initial Separations (Pilot Programs)
In the spring of 2017, Jeff Self, the Border Patrol chief in the El Paso Sector, which includes New Mexico and parts of Texas, quietly launched a regional program to start referring migrant parents traveling with children for prosecution, which would require those families to be separated. This strained resources throughout the immigration system, including at the Department of Health and Human Services, which took custody of the children. Federal officials would later call the program a “pilot” and use it as a model for expanding the practice nationwide. Some early separations also occurred in Yuma, Arizona, under a separate initiative.
Family Separation Directive for Texas Border Patrol stations in the El Paso Sector*
Family Separation Directive for New Mexico Border Patrol stations in the El Paso Sector*
Deliberations Leading Up to the Implementation of Zero Tolerance
At a February 14, 2017, interagency meeting, immigration-enforcement officials presented a nationwide plan to separate families as an immigration deterrent. Afterward, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services—the agency that would be charged with caring for separated children—pushed back against the plan while scrambling to prepare. The plan was also leaked to the media, after which Homeland Security officials began to assert publicly that the idea had been abandoned. In reality, during and after regional separation programs were implemented in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, the nationwide plan was still being pushed aggressively by leaders of the immigrant-enforcement agencies, as well as by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s chief immigration adviser, and Gene Hamilton, a confidant of Miller’s who worked at DHS and the Department of Justice.
Invitation to the February 14, 2017, meeting
HHS official Jonathan White’s internal summary of proposals discussed at the February meeting
White asks enforcement officials for more information about plans to separate families.
List of attempts by White to inquire and raise red flags about plans to separate families
HHS official: DHS is “looking to expand” family separations despite a complaint filed with the inspector general. (Original complaint here.)
December 2017 DHS policy proposal: “Parental Choice of Detention or Separation”
Zero Tolerance Policy
Zero Tolerance memo signed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s follow-up Zero Tolerance memo with additional instructions
El Paso Sector initial implementation guidance
El Centro Sector implementation guidance
Del Rio Sector implementation guidance
“A lot of parent separation cases” are “missing information,” an HHS official reports.
HHS officials note inconsistent documentation and tracking issues.
A magistrate judge in Tucson, Arizona, inquires about separation and reunification processes.
Amended Big Bend Sector guidance
Zero Tolerance Charts
Though a full accounting of the family separations that took place during the Trump administration does not exist, these internal government charts offer some insight into the nature of those that were recorded. For example, Homeland Security officials have often suggested that some of the individuals separated under Zero Tolerance were actually “false families,” or that separated parents were guilty of more serious crimes beyond the misdemeanor of illegally crossing the border, to justify taking their children away. But the first chart in this list makes clear that 2,146 of 2,256 separated parents who were referred for prosecution between May 5 and June 20, 2018, were charged only with the misdemeanor. During the same period, 137 parents were charged with the felony of having crossed the border illegally more than once, while only two were presented with “other charges.” The second chart notes that over those weeks, at least 251 children younger than 6 were separated from their parents, along with 1,370 children ages 6 to 12, and 1,272 ages 13 to 17.
Zero Tolerance Separation datasets May 5-June 20, 2018
Internal Border Patrol “Prosecution Initiative Update” charts from July 1 to July 7, 2018
Undated list of reasons for some separations
Misleading the Public
Below is a small sampling of instances when government officials, members of congress, reporters and community groups sought information about a noticeable rise in family separations. Despite these inquiries, for more than a year, Department of Homeland Security officials denied that the agency’s treatment of families had changed, suggesting that business was proceeding as usual and that families were not being separated any more than in the past.
Houston Chronicle reporter Lomi Kriel asking whether the Border Patrol’s policy on family separations had changed, and receiving unclear answers in response. (Kriel’s article here)
Investigations by Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL)
Quarterly meeting agenda: “There are reports of family separation cases at the border.”
Quinn tells McAleenan that CRCL has received “over 100 recent allegations of separations.”
CRCL staff notes the Border Patrol’s failure to document some separations.
Quinn forwards allegations of coercion and abuse of separated parents to McAleenan and Acting ICE Director Ron Vitiello. (Original complaint found here)
Problems With Family Reunification and Attempts to Thwart It
“We can’t have this,” Albence writes about reunifications.
Reports that reunification forms were given to parents in languages they did not understand
Correspondence on harried reunification efforts
Known Instances of Separation
Collections
Here, documents are organized into collections based on key criteria, such as year, location, federal agency, and the key players involved.
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Department of Justice, which prosecuted some separated parents
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Department of Health and Human Services, which took custody of most separated children
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose officers separated some families at ports of entry
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ICE, whose leadership advocated for separating families and sought to prolong separations
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Carla Provost, Acting Border Patrol chief during Zero Tolerance
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Katie Waldman, DHS deputy press secretary, who went on to marry Stephen Miller
- Locations: Big Bend, Brownsville, Calexico, California, Canutillo, Del Rio, El Centro, El Paso, Harlingen, Hidalgo, Houston, Laredo, New Mexico, New York, Nogales, Phoenix, Port Isabel, Rio Grande Valley, San Diego, San Luis, San Ysidro, Texas, Tucson, Yuma
Further Reading
Congressional Reports
House Oversight Committee: Child Separations by the Trump Administration
Inspector General Reports
Department of Justice
Department of Health and Human Services
Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement Care
Communication and Management Challenges Impeded HHS’s Response to the Zero-Tolerance Policy
Characteristics of Separated Children in ORR’s Care: June 27, 2018–November 15, 2020
Department of Homeland Security and Components
DHS Lacked Technology Needed to Successfully Account for Separated Migrant Families
*The government supplied numerous copies of this directive with various portions redacted. The least redacted version has been excerpted here from the Border Patrol’s “After Action Report,” which summarized the results of the separations that occurred in the El Paso Sector in 2017.
**This memo was originally obtained by the office of Senator Jeff Merkley.
Note: The government occasionally supplied The Atlantic with multiple versions of the same email chain or report, and redacted different portions of each. Such documents have been combined in order to show all unredacted material.