page_title: Trump administration family separation policy
section_title: Continued separations and controversial facility conditions
hierarchical_section_title: Trump administration family separation policy / Continued separations and controversial facility conditions
caption_attribution_description: English: Overcrowding of families observed by OIG on June 11, 2019, at Border Patrol’s Weslaco, TX, Station. Faces were digitally obscured by OIG.
context_page_description: The Trump administration family separation policy was an aspect of US President Donald Trump's immigration policy. The policy was presented to the public as a "zero tolerance" approach intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation. It was officially adopted across the entire US–Mexico border from April 2018 until June 2018. Later investigations found that the practice of family separations had begun a year prior to the public announcement. Under the policy, federal authorities separated children from parents or guardians with whom they had entered the US. The adults were prosecuted and held in federal jails, and the children placed under the supervision of the US Department of Health and Human Services. In January 2020 the SPLC reported that the official government number of children separated from their parents or guardians was 4,368, though it is likely that the accurate number is much higher.
  By early June 2018, it emerged that the policy did not include measures to reunite the families that it had separated. This created a child migration crisis.
caption: Overcrowded conditions for migrant families detained in Weslaco, Texas were reported by inspectors from the federal government in June 2019.[105]
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