The Online Newspaper of Lakewood High School

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    More of Children Separated From Parents at Border Than Suspected

    More+of+Children+Separated+From+Parents+at+Border+Than+Suspected

    About a couple thousand more kids may have been separated from their parents at the border than originally recorded. According to BBC News, US inspectors have found that there were thousands of kids who were separated from the border that were not reported earlier on.

    This began months before the Trump administration had announced its migrant separation policy. This information was released from a new US health department report. Officials reported that around 3,000 kids were taken under the “zero tolerance” policy last summer.

    Under the “zero tolerance” policy, almost every migrant entering the country illegally were prosecuted and their children were placed into foster care. “When I first heard about this policy I was in awe. I could not believe someone could willingly do this to so many families. It was just heartbreaking. I also cannot believe that this went on after the policy was ended,”said senior Hannah Martin.

    This sparked an outrage throughout the country causing Trump to quickly withdraw the policy. The total number of migrants separated from their kids is unknown due to the lack of coordination between the government agencies at the time. In June, Trump decided to get rid of the order and keep the families together. A week later a federal judge in San Diego had ordered the government to bring the families who were separated at the border back together.

    A new report had found that 118 children were taken from their parents between June and November, which was after Trump had decided to put an end to the “zero tolerance” policy. According to BBC News, there is a possibility that departmental systems and processors are still not able to ensure consistent data about the separated children.

     

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