HHS OIG Issue Brief • January 2019 • OEI-BL-18-00511 

Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement Care

 What OIG Found

 In the summer of 2017, prior to the formal announcement 

of the zero-tolerance policy, ORR staff and officials 

observed a steep increase in the number of children who 

had been separated from a parent or guardian by DHS 

(“separated children”) and subsequently referred to ORR 

for care.

1

 Officials estimated that ORR received and 

released thousands of 

separated children 

prior to a June 26, 

2018, court order in 

Ms. L v. ICE that 

required ORR to 

identify and reunify 

certain separated 

children in its care as 

of that date. 

 In July 2018, ORR 

certified a list of 2,654 

children that ORR 

believed to be 

separated from 

parents who met the 

Ms. L v. ICE class 

definition. ORR 

determined that an 

additional 946 children had some indication of separation

in one or more data sources used to compile the certified 

list but did not meet all criteria for inclusion at that time.

 Between July and December 2018, ORR staff received new 

information indicating that some children who had been 

in ORR’s care as of June 26, 2018, and whom ORR had not 

included on the certified list had, in fact, been separated

from a parent. In October and December 2018, ORR

conducted formal reviews that resulted in adding 162 

children to the list reported to the Ms. L v. ICE court; ORR

Why OIG Did This Review

In the spring of 2018, the Department of 

Justice (DOJ) and Department of 

Homeland Security (DHS) implemented a 

“zero-tolerance policy” for certain 

immigration offenses. As a result, DHS 

separated large numbers of alien families, 

with adults being held in Federal

detention while their children were 

transferred to the care of the Office of 

Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS). 

On June 26, 2018, in a class action lawsuit, 

Ms. L v. U.S. Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement (ICE), a Federal District Court 

ordered the Federal Government to 

identify and reunify separated families 

who met certain criteria. 

Given the potential impact of these 

actions on vulnerable children and ORR 

operations, the Office of Inspector 

General (OIG) conducted this review to 

determine the number and status of 

separated children (i.e., children 

separated from their parent or legal 

guardian by DHS) who have entered ORR 

care, including but not limited to the 

subset of separated children covered by 

Ms. L v. ICE. In a separate review, OIG is 

examining challenges that ORR-funded 

facilities have faced in reunifying 

separated children. On the basis of those 

findings, OIG plans to recommend 

solutions to improve ORR program 

operations.

Key Takeaway

The total number of children 

separated from a parent or 

guardian by immigration 

authorities is unknown. 

Pursuant to a June 2018 Federal 

District Court order, HHS has 

thus far identified 2,737 children 

in its care at that time who were

separated from their parents. 

However, thousands of children 

may have been separated

during an influx that began in 

2017, before the accounting 

required by the Court, and HHS 

has faced challenges in 

identifying separated children.
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OEI-BL-18-00511

also determined that 79 previously reported children had

not actually been separated from a parent, for a new total 

of 2,737 separated children of class members.

 From July 1 through November 7, 2018, ORR received at 

least 118 children identified by DHS as separated when 

referring the child to ORR care. However, DHS provided 

ORR with limited information about the reasons for these 

separations, which may impede ORR’s ability to determine 

appropriate placements.

 What OIG Concludes

 HHS faced significant challenges in identifying separated 

children, including the lack of an existing, integrated data 

system to track separated families across HHS and DHS 

and the complexity of determining which children should 

be considered separated. Owing to these and other 

difficulties, additional children of Ms. L v. ICE class 

members were still being identified more than five 

months after the original court order to do so.

 It is not yet clear whether recent changes to ORR’s 

systems and processes are sufficient to ensure consistent 

and accurate data about separated children, and the lack 

of detail in information received from DHS continues to 

pose challenges.

 OIG encourages continued efforts to improve 

communication, transparency, and accountability for the 

identification, care, and placement of separated children. 

How OIG Did This Review

We analyzed HHS internal data and 

reviewed court filings and other public 

documents. We also conducted multiple 

interviews with HHS senior leadership, 

agency officials, and staff.
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BACKGROUND

ORR Care of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC)

ORR, a Program Office of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

within HHS, manages the UAC Program. A UAC is a minor who has no 

lawful immigration status in the United States (U.S.) and does not have a 

parent or legal guardian in the country available to provide care and 

physical custody.2 ORR funds a network of over 100 shelters for UAC; these 

facilities provide housing, food, medical care, mental health services, 

educational services, and recreational activities. 

Federal law requires the safe and timely placement of UAC in the least 

restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child.3 ORR is also 

charged with identifying suitable “sponsors” living in the U.S. who can care 

for the child when he or she leaves ORR custody. Most sponsors are a

parent or close relative of the child.

4

 Where no appropriate sponsors are 

found, children remain in ORR custody and may be placed in long-term 

foster care, including community-based foster care or a group home. 

Children who turn 18 years old while in ORR care are transferred to DHS

custody.

5

 Regardless of where they are placed, UAC await judicial resolution 

of their immigration status.

The majority of children referred to ORR have surrendered to or been

apprehended by immigration authorities while entering the U.S. without a

parent or legal guardian. However, some children are referred to ORR after 

being separated by DHS from a parent or legal guardian with whom the 

child arrived. Historically, these separations were rare and occurred because 

of circumstances such as the parent’s medical emergency or a 

determination that the parent was a threat to the child’s safety.6 ORR is not 

a law enforcement agency and has no role in the decision to separate 

families or prosecute immigration law violations.

Federal Policies Resulting in Family Separation

In recent years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS have taken a 

variety of actions to increase enforcement of immigration laws. (See 

Exhibit 1.) On April 11, 2017, the Attorney General issued a memorandum 

instructing Federal prosecutors to prioritize prosecution of certain 

immigration offenses.

7

 From July through November 2017, the El Paso 

sector of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency within DHS, 

implemented new policies that resulted in 281 individuals in families being 

separated.

8

 On April 6, 2018, the Attorney General formally instituted a 

“zero-tolerance policy” for offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a), which 

addresses attempts by an individual who is not a U.S. citizen to enter the 

country at an improper time or place.

9

The Attorney General described this

April 2017

Attorney General issues 

memorandum prioritizing 

prosecution of immigration 

offenses

July 2017 

El Paso sector of CBP 

implements policies resulting 

in increased family 

separations 

February 2018 

Ms. L v. ICE lawsuit filed 

April 2018 

Attorney General issues 

memorandum instituting 

zero-tolerance policy 

May 2018

Attorney General gives 

speech reiterating DHS and 

DOJ implementation of zerotolerance policy 

June 2018

President issues Executive 

Order directing DHS to 

detain alien families together 

June 2018

Judge Sabraw orders Federal 

Government to cease certain 

family separations and 

reunite eligible families 

July 2018 

HHS certifies list of 2,654 

separated children of 

potential class members to 

be reunified 

October 2018

HHS adds 13 children to the 

list reported to the Court 

December 2018

HHS adds 149 children to the 

list reported to the Court 

Source: OIG Analysis of Memoranda, Court 

Filings, and Other Public Documents, 2018 

Exhibit 1. Family Separation 

and Reunification: Key Events 
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OEI-BL-18-00511

policy in a May public speech, announcing that DHS was now referring all

adults making illegal Southwest Border crossings to DOJ for prosecution

and that DOJ would accept those cases.10 

Under these policies, when a child and parent were apprehended together 

by immigration authorities, DHS separated the family, with the parent being 

placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service within DOJ to await 

prosecution for immigration offenses. With the detained parent unavailable 

to care for his or her child, the child was treated as a UAC and transferred to 

ORR. 

In June of 2018, two actions resulted in curtailment of the zero-tolerance 

policy. First, on June 20, 2018, the President issued Executive Order 13841, 

directing DHS to detain alien families together whenever ”appropriate and 

consistent with the law and available resources.”

11

 Second, on June 26, 2018, 

District Court Judge Dana Sabraw preliminarily enjoined the Federal 

Government from detaining parents in immigration custody without their 

minor children and required reunification of families already separated on 

that date, provided they met the Court’s criteria.12 

Ms. L v. ICE 

Judge Sabraw’s June 26, 2018, order was issued in response to a class action

lawsuit—Ms. L v. ICE—filed in February of 2018 in Federal District Court in 

California. The class was defined as:

All adult parents who enter the United States at or between 

designated ports of entry who (1) have been, are, or will be 

detained in immigration custody by the [DHS], and (2) have 

a minor child who is or will be separated from them by DHS 

and detained in ORR custody, ORR foster care, or DHS 

custody absent a determination that the parent is unfit or 

presents a danger to the child.13

Parents are excluded from the class if they have a criminal history or 

communicable disease. 

With respect to this open-ended class, the Court preliminarily enjoined DHS 

from continuing to separate families, subject to certain exceptions. A 

preliminary injunction is a temporary order prohibiting a party from 

specified actions; it is intended to maintain the status quo until the issues at 

trial are resolved. For those Ms. L v. ICE class members who were separated 

from their children as of the date of the ruling, Judge Sabraw ordered the

Federal Government to reunify class members with their minor children in 

ORR custody within 14 days for children under the age of 5 and 30 days for 

those aged 5-17. Reunification is not required if there is a determination 

that the parent is unfit or presents a danger to their child or if the parent 

voluntarily declines to be reunited with the child. Parties to the lawsuit file 

regular joint status updates with the Court describing progress of the 
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OEI-BL-18-00511

reunification effort and an ongoing count of the number of possible 

children of potential class members who have been identified, the number 

of children whose parents have been found to be class members, and the 

number of children reunified or otherwise discharged from ORR care.

14

HHS Efforts to Identify and Reunify Separated Children 

In June of 2018, no centralized system existed to identify, track, or connect 

families separated by DHS. Compliance with the Ms. L v. ICE court order 

therefore required HHS and DHS to undertake a significant new effort to 

rapidly identify children in ORR care who had been separated from their 

parents and reunify them. To facilitate this effort, the Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) led a reunification Incident 

Management Team within HHS, drawing on ASPR’s experience in crisis 

response and data management and analysis, to assist ORR in identifying 

and reunifying separated children. 

Under ASPR’s direction, HHS coordinated closely with DHS and DOJ to 

develop a Tri-Department Plan, submitted to the Court on July 18, 2018, 

which describes ongoing processes to reunify Ms. L v. ICE class members 

with their children. These steps include conducting and reviewing 

background checks of the parent, confirming parentage, assessing parental 

fitness and child safety, conducting a parent interview, and reuniting the 

family.15 This process, as directed by the Court, is a more streamlined 

version of ORR’s standard procedure for vetting a sponsor for a UAC. For 

example, ORR conducts background checks on all adults who will reside in a 

household with a UAC and requires a prospective sponsor to submit a 

Sponsor Care Plan. For Ms. L v. ICE class members, Judge Sabraw ruled that 

those procedures were designed for children who had entered the U.S. 

unaccompanied and were unnecessarily onerous when applied to parents 

and children who were apprehended together but separated by 

Government officials.

16

If ORR determines that a child subject to the Ms. L v. ICE reunification order 

cannot be reunified with the parent from whom he or she was separated 

(for example, due to parental unfitness or danger to the child), ORR follows

its usual sponsorship procedures for UACs. For all placements, ORR 

prioritizes parents and close relatives when selecting sponsors.
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OEI-BL-18-00511

RESULTS

According to ORR officials and staff, in the summer of 2017, staff observed a 

significant increase in the number and proportion of separated children (i.e., 

children separated from their parent or legal guardian by DHS) relative to 

other UACs. Staff had begun informally tracking separations in 2016, 

recognizing that additional information and effort was required to locate 

parents of separated children. Although this tracking was not 

comprehensive, it provided adequate information to alert ORR intake staff 

to significant trends. ORR officials noted that, according to this tracking, the 

proportion of separated children rose from approximately 0.3 percent of all 

UAC intakes in late 2016 to 3.6 percent by August 2017. 

The increase in separated children posed operational challenges for the 

UAC program. In a November 2017 email that OIG reviewed, an ORR official 

stated that separated children were often very young, that these younger 

children required placement at specially licensed facilities, and that “the 

numbers of these very young UAC resulting from separations has on some 

dates resulted in shortfalls of available beds.” 

Due to these operational concerns, ORR staff continued to informally track 

separations. For example, staff initially recorded separated children on an 

Excel spreadsheet if they were identified by DHS as separated at intake; this 

was later replaced by a SharePoint database with greater ability to 

incorporate information from field staff, including reports from shelters 

when they identified separated children in their care. However, use of these 

tools was not formalized in procedures, and access was limited.

Overall, ORR and ASPR officials estimate that thousands of separated 

children entered ORR care and were released prior to the June 26, 2018,

court order. Because the tracking systems in use at that time were informal 

and designed for operational purposes rather than retrospective reporting, 

ORR was unable to provide a more precise estimate or specific information 

about these children’s placements (for example, whether the children were 

released to sponsors who were relatives, sponsors who were nonrelatives, 

foster care, etc.). These children did not have parents covered by the court 

order; therefore, they were not included in the Ms. L v. ICE reunification 

process.17 Rather, in general, placement and release decisions would have 

followed the same procedures as for other UAC, i.e., ORR seeks to identify a 

qualified sponsor, including a parent or other close relative if one can be 

located and vetted in a timely way. 

In the summer of 

2017, ORR officials 

observed a steep 

increase in the 

number and 

proportion of 

separated children 

referred from DHS 
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OEI-BL-18-00511

In July 2018, ORR 

certified 2,654 

children of potential 

Ms. L v. ICE class 

members; 

an additional 946 

children had some 

indication of 

separation but did 

not meet all criteria 

In the absence of an existing, integrated HHS-DHS system to identify and 

track separated families, the HHS Incident Management Team leading the 

reunification effort took three approaches to collecting information about 

this population, with the goal of identifying every possible child of a Ms. L v.

ICE class member in ORR care as of June 26, 2018. First, an ASPR-led data 

team (with the support of ORR, other HHS operating and staff divisions, and 

DHS sub-agencies) mined more than 60 DHS and HHS databases to identify

indicators of possible separation, such as an adult and child with the same 

last name apprehended on the same day at the same location.

18

 

Additionally, ORR and other HHS staff, agency officials, and senior 

leadership manually reviewed case files for all of the approximately 12,000 

children in ORR care at that time. Finally, ORR asked all ORR-funded 

shelters to attest to any separated children that grantees reasonably 

believed to be in their care. This effort resulted in an initial list of 3,600 

potentially separated children, i.e., children for whom HHS found any 

information, in any data source reviewed, indicating that the child had been 

separated from a parent.

On July 11, 2018, after conducting additional reviews to resolve 

inconsistencies, ORR certified for the Court a list of 2,654 possible children 

of potential Ms. L v. ICE class members.

19

 However, an ASPR official 

explained that even as ORR certified this list, some ASPR staff believed that

between 50 and 100 additional children should have been included. At the 

same time, the Court’s deadline for reunification was only 2 weeks away and 

extensive effort would be needed to comply. On July 15, the ASPR team 

made an internal decision to accept ORR’s certification of 2,654 children,

cease efforts to confirm the number of separations, and focus on the timesensitive task of reuniting the 2,654 children with their parents. 

Overall, from the initial list of 3,600 potentially separated children, 946 were 

not included on the list that ORR certified in July. Of these, approximately 

300 were excluded because they had been released through normal ORR 

procedures between the date of the Court order (June 26, 2018) and the 

date that ORR certified the list (July 11, 2018). OIG’s analysis of ORR data

showed that approximately 90 percent of these children were released to 

sponsors, who are usually close relatives.

20

 

ORR officials provided 3 other reasons why children may have appeared in 

the initial count of 3,600 potentially separated children but not the certified

list reported to the Court in July:

 Some children were apprehended with and separated from a 

nonparent relative, such as a grandparent or older sibling. These 

children appeared on the initial list of 3,600 because CBP identified 

these scenarios as family unit separations. However, the Ms. L v. ICE

court order applies only to separations of parents from their children.
 

 Some children were found to have a fraudulent birth certificate or 

other evidence indicating that the adult with whom they were

apprehended had made a fraudulent claim of parentage. 

 Some children had conflicting or unclear information in their case file. 

These cases were elevated to the ORR Director, who made a 

determination, in consultation with senior ORR staff, as to whether 

the balance of evidence supported including the child on the certified 

list. 

ORR was not able to provide OIG with the specific number of children 

excluded from the certified list for each of the above reasons.

Between July and 

December 2018, 

ORR determined 

that 162 children 

not previously

reported should be

recategorized as

possible children of 

potential Ms. L v. 

ICE class members 

In the months after the list of 2,654 children was certified in July 2018, ORR 

staff became aware of new information indicating that some children who 

were not on the list had, in fact, been separated from a parent by DHS. In 

October and December 2018, ORR conducted two formal reviews of subsets 

of children and, as a result, added 162 children to the list reported to the Ms. 

L v. ICE court. Additionally, ORR determined that 79 children previously 

reported to the Court had not actually been separated from a parent; 

accordingly, the total number of separated children of Ms. L v. ICE class 

members currently stands at 2,737. 

Between July and October 2018, ORR Staff Learned of “Fewer Than 50”

Separated Children Not Included on the Ms. L v. ICE List. In an October 

interview, ORR staff stated that since July, they had sometimes received new 

information indicating that some children who had been excluded from the 

certified list for Ms. L v. ICE had, in fact, been separated from a parent by 

DHS. For example, in some cases, children who had not previously been 

willing to speak about their situations became more comfortable with 

shelter staff and reported that they had been separated. In other cases, 

parents’ legal representatives contacted ORR regarding children that they 

believed to be separated. 

ORR staff stated that as a result of this new information, between July and 

October 2018, they had become aware of “fewer than 50” children who had

been in ORR care as of June 26 and were not included on the list reported

to the Court in July, but whom ORR now believed to be separated. ORR 

was not able to provide an exact number or list of these children, and at the

time of our interview, these children had not been formally determined to

be children of class members or reported in joint status updates to the 

Court. However, ORR staff explained, and an ASPR official reiterated, that 

efforts to reunite these children with their parents were pursued on a caseby-case basis. 

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OEI-BL-18-00511 
 

OIG could not determine whether the 50-100 children about whose status 

ASPR staff had expressed concern in July (described in the previous finding) 

encompassed the “fewer than 50” that ORR staff said they identified, 

because ORR was not able to provide a list of these children. However, an 

ASPR official we interviewed stated that it is likely these groups overlap. 

In October 2018, HHS Added 13 Children to the List Reported to the Ms. L v. 

ICE Court. On October 1, 2018, at the request of the HHS Office of the 

General Counsel (OGC), ASPR asked ORR to conduct an additional review of 

170 children who: 

 had appeared on the initial list of 3,600 potentially separated

children, but not the July 11 certified list, and 

 were still in ORR care as of October 2018. 

ASPR, ORR, and HHS-OGC officials we spoke to cited several reasons for 

initiating this new review. These included continued concerns from staff 

regarding the accuracy of the July 2018 list of separated children reported to 

the Court for Ms. L v. ICE, new CBP data, and the September 2018 

publication of a DHS OIG report on family separations that included 

numbers that differed from those that HHS had reported to the Court. 

Based on the October review, ORR recategorized 13 additional children as 

possible children of potential Ms. L v. ICE class members, bringing the total 

to 2,667. Information about these children was first included in a joint 

status update to the Court on October 25, 2018.21 The following month, in a 

November 29, 2018, joint status update, HHS reported that it had 

determined that 79 of the 2,667 previously reported children had not, in 

fact, been separated from a parent. 

In December 2018, HHS Added 149 Children to the List Reported to the Ms. 

L v. ICE Court. On December 12, 2018, HHS reported to the Court that ORR

had conducted an additional review of case management records for some 

children who had been in ORR’s care on June 26, 2018. According to court

filings and HHS-OGC staff, the new review concerned children who: 

 had appeared on the initial list of 3,600 potentially separated

children but not the July or October lists reported to the Court, and 

 had been released from ORR’s care on or between June 26 and

October 25, 2018. 

Because the December 12, 2018, joint status update to the Court was filed as 

OIG was finalizing our report, we were unable to obtain and review any 

underlying data HHS relied upon in generating the update. However, we 

note that the joint status update was filed approximately one week after

OIG first shared with HHS our draft report on this topic, including our

finding that approximately 300 potentially separated children had been 

discharged between the date of the Court order and the date that the Ms. L 

v. ICE list was reported to the Court (as described on page 7). 

Separated Children Placed in Office of Refugee Resettlement Care 9 

OEI-BL-18-00511 
 

 

As a result of the December review, ORR determined that 149 additional 

children should be re-categorized as possible children of potential Ms. L v. 

ICE class members, for a new total of 2,816 children reported to the Court, 

of whom 2,737 had been separated from a parent. ORR also determined 

that 11 of the 149 children had parents with criminal histories, which would 

have precluded reunification. Of the remaining 138 children, whose parents 

did not have criminal histories and so may have been eligible for

reunification if identified before they were discharged: 

 52 had been released to a sponsor who was a parent or legal 

guardian; 

 71 had been released to a sponsor who was an immediate relative, 

such as a sibling or grandparent; 

 9 had been released to sponsors who were distant relatives or 

unrelated adults; 

 5 had been discharged through voluntary departure to their country 

of origin; and

 1 had turned 18 while in ORR’s care, which typically results in transfer 

to DHS custody. 

As of December 2018, Most Separated Children of Class Members Had Been 

Reunified. On December 12, 2018, HHS reported to the Court that of the 

2,816 possible children of potential Ms. L v. ICE class members (including 79 

whom HHS ultimately determined not to have been separated), 2,131 

children had been reunified with a separated parent, and 526 children had 

been released under other circumstances, typically to a sponsor. Another 

159 children remained in ORR care. Of these 159 children in care, 8 were 

categorized as children of class members and proceeding towards

reunification or other appropriate discharge. ORR determined that the

other 151 children in care were either not, in fact, children of class members 

or were otherwise not eligible for reunification. Specifically: 

 for 95 children, the parent declined to be reunified; 

 for 28 children, ORR determined that the child had not been

separated from a parent by DHS; and

 for 28 children, ORR determined that the parent was unfit or posed 

a danger to the child. 

For these 151 children, ORR is pursuing placement through its usual 

sponsorship procedures for UAC. (See Exhibit 2 on page 11.) 

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OEI-BL-18-00511 
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Exhibit 2. Status of Children Included in Ms. L v. ICE Court Filings as of December 2018

 Includes 2,737 children separated from a parent and 79 children whom HHS has determined were not separated from a parent. As of 

December 2018, HHS continues to report to the Court on the status of all 2,816 children.

*Includes children released to sponsors or remanded to DHS custody after turning 18.

†Includes children found to have entered the U.S. unaccompanied, separated from a nonparent relative, or otherwise determined not to 

have been separated from a parent.

Source: OIG Analysis of Ms. L v. ICE Court Filings, 2018

From July 1 through 

November 7, 2018, 

ORR received at 

least 118 newly 

separated children; 

DHS has provided 

ORR with limited 

information about 

the reasons for 

these separations

According to ORR tracking documents that we reviewed, ORR received at 

least 118 children separated by DHS and referred to ORR care from July 1 

through November 7, 2018. This number includes only children identified 

by DHS as separated at the time the child was transferred to ORR care. 

The proportion of separated children increased steadily from 0.47 percent in 

July 2018 to 0.91 percent in the first week of November 2018. (See Exhibit 3

on page 12.) Overall, 0.69 percent of all ORR intakes from July 1 through 

November 7, 2018, were separated children. This is more than twice the 

rate that ORR observed in 2016, but far lower than the peak of the zerotolerance policy.

The newly separated children ranged in age from under 1 year old to 

17 years old. Of the 118 children, 82 were under the age of 13 when 

transferred to ORR care, including 27 who were under the age of 5. 

As previously noted, DHS sometimes separates children from parents for 

the child’s safety and well-being, such as when the parent is found to pose a 

danger to the child or cannot care for the child because of illness or injury. 

Based on our review of ORR tracking data, DHS reported to ORR that 65 of 

the 118 children were separated because the parent had a criminal history. 

In some cases, DHS did not provide ORR with details about the nature of 

the criminal history. Other reasons DHS provided to explain the family 

separation included the parent’s gang affiliation (18 children), illness or 

hospitalization (13 children), immigration history only (3 children), or other 

factors (19 children), such as a parent presenting a fraudulent passport or an 


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OEI-BL-18-00511

adult claiming to be a legal guardian without proof; in some cases, little 

detail was provided.

22 The reason for separation is pertinent to Ms. L v. ICE, 

because the June 26, 2018, Court order preliminarily enjoined separations of 

parents from minor children except for specific reasons.

Exhibit 3. Separated Children Referred from DHS to ORR, July 1–November 7, 2018

Month

All Children 

Entering ORR 

Care

Number of 

Newly* 

Separated 

Children

Proportion of 

Separated 

Children

July 3,864 18 0.47%

August 3,773 25 0.66%

September 4,059 29 0.71%

October 4,339 36 0.83%

November 1–7 1,104 10 0.91%

Total 17,139 118 0.69%

* Indicates children separated by DHS and referred to ORR care from July 1 through November 7, 2018.

Source: OIG Analysis of ORR Data, 2018

Incomplete or inaccurate information about the reason for separation, and a 

parent’s criminal history in particular, may impede ORR’s ability to 

determine the appropriate placement for a child. When a proposed 

sponsor (including a parent) has a criminal history, ORR policy is to evaluate 

the severity and type of crime and the length of time that has passed since 

the criminal act, along with any mitigating factors. ORR officials and staff 

noted that from a child welfare perspective, not all criminal history rises to a 

level that would preclude a child from being placed with his or her parent. 

ORR officials stated that when DHS provided insufficiently detailed 

explanations for a child’s separation, ORR staff would contact DHS for 

followup information. However, the spreadsheet we reviewed indicated that 

DHS did not always respond to these requests for followup information.

ORR staff noted that although the spreadsheet OIG reviewed included only 

separations reported by DHS, ORR’s tracking procedures have evolved to 

incorporate information from other sources. In July 2018, ORR modified its 

online case management system to include an indicator that staff can use to 

record that a child was separated, regardless of whether that information 

came from DHS or was reported by a facility caring for the child. ORR staff 

stated that from November 2018 onward, the tracking spreadsheet would 

include all children with the separation indicator.
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CONCLUSION

The total number and current status of all children separated from their 

parents or guardians by DHS and referred to ORR’s care is unknown. As a 

result of the Ms. L v. ICE lawsuit, there has been an extensive public

accounting of the status of 2,737 separated children whose parents meet 

the class definition for this litigation. HHS devoted considerable resources 

to this effort but faced significant challenges in identifying separated 

children, including the lack of an existing, integrated data system to track 

separated families across HHS and DHS and the complexity of determining 

which children should be considered separated. Owing to these and other

difficulties, additional children of Ms. L v. ICE class members were still being 

identified more than five months after the original court order to do so. 

There is even less visibility for separated children who fall outside the court 

case. The Court did not require HHS to determine the number, identity, or 

status of an estimated thousands of children whom DHS separated during 

an influx that began in 2017 and whom ORR released prior to Ms. L v. ICE. 

Additionally, efforts to identify and assess more recent separations may be 

hampered by incomplete information. 

ORR staff and officials cited efforts to improve tracking of separated 

children, such as modifying ORR’s online case management system to more 

easily identify such children and creating a consolidated spreadsheet to 

track separated children. Maintaining accurate and comprehensive 

information about separated children would improve ORR’s ability to 

monitor for future influxes and to ensure the most appropriate placement 

for these particularly vulnerable children. However, it is not yet clear 

whether ORR’s recent changes are sufficient to ensure consistent and 

accurate data about separated children, and the lack of detail in information

received from DHS continues to pose challenges. OIG encourages 

continued efforts to improve communication, transparency, and 

accountability for the identification, care, and placement of separated 

children. 

OIG is conducting a review to explore challenges that ORR-funded facilities 

have faced in reunifying separated children. On the basis of those findings, 

OIG plans to recommend solutions to improve program operations. In 

addition, OIG is engaged in multiple reviews to assess the care and wellbeing of children residing in ORR-funded facilities. Future work will address

facilities’ efforts to protect all children in their care from harm and to 

provide needed physical and mental health services, including efforts to 

address trauma. 
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Agency Comments and OIG Response

In its comments on OIG’s draft report, ACF stated that it generally agrees 

with OIG’s findings regarding the number of separated children that HHS 

reported to the court in Ms. L v. ICE. ACF asserted that HHS has now

identified all separated children who were in ORR care when the Ms. L court 

issued its preliminary injunction and whose parents are potential Ms. L class 

members. OIG notes that HHS has revised this number several times since 

the initial certification to the Court in July, most recently adding 149 children 

in December 2018. 

ACF noted that the scope of OIG’s review was broader than the subset of 

separated children covered by Ms. L v. ICE and stated that statutes 

governing ORR operations do not define or require ORR to track separated 

children. ACF also stated that the Court has never instructed ORR to 

determine the number of separated children whom ORR received and 

discharged before the June 26, 2018, Court order. 

ACF stated that ORR’s processes for identifying and tracking newly 

separated children “are effective and continuing to improve,” citing changes 

to ORR’s online case management system and its case management 

process. In particular, ACF stated that ICE and CBP staff can now directly 

enter information about a child into ORR’s online case management system 

when referring the child to ORR, including marking a “checkbox” to indicate 

that a child has been separated. 

ACF also provided updated information regarding the number of newly 

separated children. Specifically, ACF stated that as of December 26, 2018, 

ORR has identified a total of 218 children who were separated by DHS and 

transferred to ORR care after June 26, 2018. OIG notes that this number is 

significantly higher than the 118 separated children listed in the tracking 

documents we reviewed for the period of July 1 through November 7, 2018.

In response to OIG’s finding that DHS has provided ORR with limited 

information regarding the reasons for family separations, ACF offered 

comments with respect to family separations attributed to parental criminal 

history. Specifically, ACF cited the Ms. L court’s determination that parents 

with criminal history are not entitled to reunification and stated that ACF 

defers to and accepts DHS’s attestations of criminal history. ACF also stated 

that in cases in which DHS initially omitted confirmation of parental criminal 

history, DHS has provided confirmation upon request. ACF did not describe 

the level of detail that DHS has provided in these instances, and OIG notes 

that the tracking documents we reviewed in November 2018 included 

multiple cases in which DHS had not responded to ORR intake staff requests 

for additional information about a child’s separation. We further note that 

the utility of criminal history information is not limited to meeting the 

requirements of Ms. L v. ICE. ORR’s policy for assessing potential sponsors 

includes evaluating the severity and type of any criminal history; sufficient 
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detail about criminal history is therefore necessary to inform placement 

decisions. 

ACF concluded by stating that the Agency agrees with OIG that continued 

efforts to improve communication, transparency, and accountability for the 

identification, care, and placement of separated children are warranted. 

OIG will continue to monitor ORR operations and conduct future reviews as 

appropriate. (See Appendix A for the full text of ACF’s comments.)
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METHODOLOGY

We reviewed data compiled by ASPR and ORR in August, September, and 

November 2018 to facilitate the reunification effort, as well as followup data 

produced by those agencies in response to OIG requests. We analyzed 

these data to identify the numbers of children with certain characteristics 

(for example, discharge date, type of release, and inclusion on the list of 

children reported to the Court for Ms. L v. ICE).

We reviewed ORR tracking data for children identified by DHS as separated 

and transferred to ORR care from July 1 through November 7, 2018, 

including information that DHS provided to ORR regarding reasons for 

family separation. We analyzed these data to determine the number of 

separated children recorded by ORR and the primary reasons DHS provided 

ORR to explain the separations.

Between September and December 2018, we conducted multiple interviews 

with ASPR, ORR, and HHS-OGC officials and staff, and with HHS senior 

leadership. We conducted qualitative analysis of these interviews to identify 

key issues and events and to clarify our understanding of the data that HHS 

provided.

We reviewed public documents regarding the reunification effort, including 

legal documents filed for Ms. L v. ICE from March through December 2018, 

congressional testimony by HHS and DHS officials, and relevant reports 

issued by DHS-OIG and GAO.

Standards We conducted this study in accordance with the Quality Standards for 

Inspection and Evaluation issued by the Council of the Inspectors General on 

Integrity and Efficiency.
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APPENDIX A

COMMENTS FROM THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Louise Schoggen, Assistant Regional Inspector General in the Baltimore 

regional office, served as the team leader for this study. Others in the Office 

of Evaluation and Inspections who conducted the study include Bahar Adili, 

Heather Barton, Michael Kvassay, Seta Hovagimian, and Brianna So.

We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of other Office of 

Inspector General staff, including Laura Canfield, Blaine Collins, Abigail 

Cummings, Amitava Mazumdar, Diana Merelman, Mike Novello, Lyndsay 

Patty, and Jessica Swanstrom. 

This report was prepared under the direction of David Tawes, Regional 

Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections.

To obtain additional information concerning this report or to obtain copies, 

contact the Office of Public Affairs at Public.Affairs@oig.hhs.gov.
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ENDNOTES

1 The term “separated children” is not defined in Federal law, and no law stipulates when a family separation must 

occur. Because there is no fixed legal definition, OIG cannot be certain that the term was used identically by all 

individuals we interviewed and in all documents we reviewed. We were advised that, in practice, ORR uses the term 

to mean children who are separated from a parent or legal guardian. The Ms. L. v. ICE class is narrower, applying 

only to children separated from a parent who meets the class definition. Where possible, we have specified the 

scope of the term as we use it throughout the report.

2 6 U.S.C. § 279(g)(2).

3 8 U.S.C. § 1232(c).

4 Flores v. Reno, No. 85-4544 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 17, 1997). This Stipulated Settlement Agreement sets out an order of 

priority for sponsors with whom children should be placed. The first preference is for placement with a parent, 

followed by a child’s legal guardian, then other adult relatives.

5 6 U.S.C. § 279(g)(2), in part, defines UAC as a child who “has not attained 18 years of age.” Also see, Office of 

Refugee Resettlement, ORR Guide: Children Entering the United States Unaccompanied, Introduction. Accessed at 

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/children-entering-the-united-states-unaccompanied on November 18, 2018.

6 No statute dictates the circumstances under which families must be separated upon apprehension by immigration 

authorities, and no historical records of the number or cause of family separations exist. However, the Government 

Accountability Office (GAO) reports that Border Patrol officials stated that some family separations not related to 

prosecutions of violations of 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a) have always occurred, such as in cases in which the parent could be a 

threat to the health and safety of the child or the adult may not be the child’s parent. (See GAO, Unaccompanied 

Children: Agency Efforts to Reunify Children Separated from Parents at the Border, GAO-19-163, October 9, 2018, p. 13. 

Accessed at https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694918.pdf on November 18, 2018.) ORR staff we interviewed 

confirmed that historically, ORR had received small numbers of separated children, citing reasons such as the parent 

experiencing a medical problem that precluded caring for their child.

7 Memorandum for All Federal Prosecutors. Renewed Commitment to Criminal Immigration Enforcement. Office of the 

Attorney General, April 11, 2017. Accessed at https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/956841/download on 

November 18, 2018.

8 GAO, Unaccompanied Children: Agency Efforts to Reunify Children Separated from Parents at the Border, GAO-19-

163, October 9, 2018, p. 14-15. Accessed at https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694918.pdf on November 18, 2018.

9 Memorandum for Prosecutors Along the Southwest Border. Zero-Tolerance for Offenses Under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a). 

Office of the Attorney General, April 6, 2018. Accessed at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pressrelease/file/1049751/download on November 18, 2018.

10 DOJ Office of Public Affairs, Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks Discussing the Immigration Enforcement 

Actions of the Trump Administration, May 7, 2018. Accessed at https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-generalsessions-delivers-remarks-discussing-immigration-enforcement-actions on November 18, 2018.

11 Exec. Order 13841, 83 Fed Reg 29435, dated June 20, 2018, and published on June 25, 2018.

12 Ms. L v. ICE, No. 18-0428 (S.D. Cal. June 26, 2018) (Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Classwide Preliminary 

Injunction).

13 Ms. L v. ICE, No. 18-0428 (S.D. Cal. June 26, 2018) (Order Granting in Part Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification)

14 On November 15, 2018, Judge Sabraw entered an order approving a final settlement of a portion of the Ms. L

litigation, as well as two other cases challenging the DHS family separation practice. The settlement establishes 

procedures for how separated parents and their children may apply for asylum and ensures that those families will 

remain together pending the outcomes of immigration proceedings. The settlement did not lift the ongoing 

preliminary injunction ordered in Ms. L on June 26, 2018. Thus, the preliminary injunction against involuntarily 

separating families unless the parent is unfit or a danger to the child remains in place. Ms. L v. ICE, No. 18-0428 (S. D. 

Cal., November 15, 2018) (Order Granting Final Approval of Class Action Settlement).
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15 HHS, DHS, DOJ, The Tri-Department Plan for Stage II of Family Reunification, July 18, 2018. Accessed at 

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/UAC-Tri-Department-Process.pdf on November 18, 2018.

16 Ms. L v. ICE, No. 18-0428 (S.D. Cal. July 10, 2018) (Order Following Status Conference).

17 On December 14, 2018, Plaintiffs in the Ms. L case filed a motion to expand the scope of the class in that litigation to 

include parents whose separated children were released from ORR custody before June 26, 2018. As of release of this 

report, the Government has not responded to this Motion and the Court has not ruled. See Ms. L v. ICE, No. 18-0428 

(S.D. Cal. December 14, 2018) (Motion to Clarify Scope of the Ms. L Class).

18 According to ASPR officials, the large number of databases was primarily due to DHS’s decentralized information 

systems. For example, CBP and ICE provided ASPR with separate data, and datasets were often specific to one sector 

or office.

19 HHS continued to refer to “possible children of potential class members” even after the list of children was certified, 

because the Agency might later determine that some parents or children did not qualify. For consistency, OIG uses 

the same terminology in this report.

20 Examples of other types of releases include transfer to DHS after turning 18 and voluntary departure to country of 

origin.

21 The joint status update filed on October 25, 2018, states that HHS had identified and recategorized 14 children. 

However, the Agency later determined that one of those 14 was already included on the certified list reported to the 

Court in July 2018 and corrected the number to 13 in the November 8, 2018, joint status update. Ms. L v. ICE, No. 18-

0428 (S.D. Cal. November 8, 2018) (Joint Status Report at footnote 2).

22 HHS-OIG has referred these data to DHS-OIG for followup as appropriate.