Attachments
The Trump administration’s family separation policy remains a lasting and disgraceful legacy of that administration and of the United States as a nation. Under the policy, formally known as “Zero Tolerance,” the US government forcibly separated migrant children from their parents as a deliberate measure to deter others from attempting to migrate or seek asylum. Crueler still, the federal agencies that separated families failed to track which children were separated from which parents. In total, at least 5,569 children were separated from their parents or guardians under the Trump administration, a figure that includes separations during and after the formal zero tolerance policy. More than 1,000 children remain separated from their parents as of November 30, 2023. Out of these 1,000 children, the government’s Family Reunification Task Force still does not have any ability to contact 68 of the separated parents, further complicating the reunification process and prolonging families’ suffering.
To bring to light the terrible human costs of family separation, the Women’s Refugee Commission and Barnard College began a project in 2020 titled “Separated: Stories of Injustice and Solidarity.”1 We interviewed 27 children, parents, and other migrants and people seeking asylum who endured or were otherwise affected by zero tolerance. The participants in our project described how they must cope with the lasting effects of trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), challenges with day-to-day functioning as a direct result of their experience, and their hopes for how the United States will take steps toward rectifying the harm caused, and ensuring it does not happen to other families. Everyone WRC spoke to offered deeply powerful testimony about their experiences; this brief only offers a snapshot—through participants’ own words—of some of the most critical, recurring themes that emerged.