ACLU Calls New Trump Administration Family Separation Numbers Shocking
Government Admits More Than 1,500 Additional Families Ripped Apart By Its Illegal Practice
NEW YORK — The Trump administration admitted to a federal court that it ripped an additional 1,556 parents and children from each other under its illegal family separation policy.
The American Civil Liberties Union successfully secured a nationwide injunction in June 2018 blocking the policy, but in January 2019 an Office of Inspector General report concluded the administration did not actually know the total number of families it separated.
The ACLU asked the court to order an accounting from the Trump administration, which was granted. The deadline is tomorrow; the Trump administration turned over the final batch of numbers today.
Lee Gelernt, lead attorney in the family separation lawsuit and deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, had this reaction:
“It is shocking that 1,556 more families — including babies and toddlers — join the thousands of others already torn apart by this inhumane and illegal policy. Families have suffered tremendously, and some may never recover. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated.”
Case information: https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice
