The government doesn't even know how many families it separated 22JAN19

THIS update from the ACLU on the racist, hateful, xenophobic policies of the drumpf / trump - pence administration in response to the refugee crisis on our southern border. Here is something for the Christian supporters of this administration's handling of refugees and asylum seekers, what if Egypt had turned Mary, Joseph and Jesus away at the border? Or separated the family and then lost track of Jesus?

Ever since we filed our class action lawsuit, Ms. L v. ICE, almost one year ago, the Trump administration keeps changing its story on family separation.

First, they said the policy didn't exist. Then they admitted to separating dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of kids, including infants and toddlers. And now, a new report says there could be thousands more than the 2,737 children that the Trump administration had previously reported. Because the government failed to track all the families it tore apart.

This policy has been a disaster from the start, and the more we learn, the worse it gets. Recently, we learned that the Trump administration wanted to specifically target parents for prosecution, hoping that the horror of family separation would deter immigration. Some officials even suggested denying the separated children's legal right to a full asylum hearing.

Here's a quick recap of what's happened since we sued last year: In June a federal judge directed the government to halt separations and to reunite children with their parents, and public outrage from activists like you forced President Trump to rescind the policy that same month. Since then, we've been fighting tooth and nail to reunite all the families – because the Trump administration refused. We even traveled to Central America to find the parents the government deported without their kids.

Though we were able to reunite many families, this crisis isn't over. Federal inspectors have found that separations are still happening, even after the court order to stop.

Craig, I know it's hard to keep up with the news about this needlessly cruel policy – especially when not even the government itself has a clear picture of how many families it separated. But you can count on us to keep fighting. We'll be back in court to make sure every single family is accounted for.

Thanks for your support,

Lee Gelernt
Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project

P.S. Last week I weighed in on this report, and explained how the ACLU will be back in court to order the government to explain itself. Read more in The New York Times.

BY THE BY, I AM A PROUD MEMBER OF AND A MONTHLY SUPPORTER THE ACLU, HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS. Please consider joining or at least joining if you can.