Nearly 150,000 US Citizen Children Have Likely Seen a Parent Detained Since Trump Returned to Office

Researchers warned that family separations are occurring amid evidence that immigration officers are not consistently following procedures designed to protect children during enforcement actions. A March report by the Women’s Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights found that some deported parents were never asked whether they had children or given time to arrange care before removal.

“What we’ve found is fairly significant evidence that [ICE officers] are not asking about people’s children at the time of arrest,” said Zain Lakhani of the Women’s Refugee Commission at the time.