In the News

Why Reuniting Migrant Families Is So Difficult

David Greene, NPR: Morning Edition (June 29, 2018)

The New Executive Order is No Solution: Three Facts on Family Separation and Detention

Blanca Ramirez, Jody Agius Vallejo, and Eliane Fersan, University of Southern California (June 27, 2018)

This publication explores three facts about migration, family separation, and the broader societal consequences of immigrant detention.

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Court Halts Trump Administration Policy Prolonging Court Halts Trump Administration Policy Prolonging Detention of Hundreds Of Immigrant Children

New York Civil Liberties Union (June 27, 2018)

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction ending a policy of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) requiring Trump-appointed director Scott Lloyd to personally review and approve the release of any detained immigrant child who is or has ever been in a heightened supervision placement while in ORR custody.

By separating immigrant families, we’ve caused irreparable harm. It’s time to make amends.

Luis H. Zayas, USA Today (June 21, 2018)

As a behavioral scientist, I know the pain I hear from these children is causing serious damage that has been wrought on these vulnerable lives. The need for the human bond is profound for infants, toddlers and older children. It is the attachment that helps in the development of positive social interaction, trust of others and the regulation of emotions and behaviors…

Incarcerating Entire Families Cannot Be the Solution to the Separation of Children

Philip E. Wolgin, Center for American Progress (June 20, 2018)

Over the past two weeks, as the public has learned more and more about the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents and keeping them in cages—a practice that former First Lady Laura Bush termed “eerily reminiscent of the internment camps … during World War II”—anger and outrage at the practice has echoed throughout all corners of the nation…

Nearly 2,000 minors separated from families at the border, according to new government data

PBS News Hour (June 15, 2018)

Nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the U.S. border over a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to Department of Homeland Security figures.

‘Tent cities’ for migrant children reportedly cost much more than detaining families together

Kevin Breuninger and Tucker Higgins, CNBC (June 20, 2018)

It reportedly costs $775 per person per night to keep the newly separated children of families who cross the U.S. border illegally in “tent cities. The per-person cost at certain detention centers that would keep families together is $298 per night, according to an agency estimate from 2014, NBC reported.

I Worked at a Child Migrant Center. What I Was Told to Do Was So Inhumane That I Quit.

Antar Davidson, Mother Jones (June 20, 2018)

Antar Davidson is a former employee at Southwest Key, a nonprofit chain of migrant shelters, who recently made headlines for talking about the cruel conditions at the facilities. Davidson started working at a Tucson, Arizona, center in February, two months before President Trump’s zero-tolerance policy was instituted. He quit his job earlier this month, after a supervisor ordered him to separate hugging siblings who believed their parents had died. Here Davidson tells Mother Jones, in his own words, about helping migrant children through martial arts, the changes since Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, and why he ultimately could not stay at his job.

How to Volunteer to Help Immigrant Children Separated from Family

Social Work Blog, NASW (June 19, 2018)

National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Board Member Guadalupe G. Lara, LMSW, an expert on social work and immigration, is encouraging social workers to advocate for these children and “to speak to some of the facts because there’s a lot of misinformation on the other side.”