U.S. Watchdog to Look into Allegations of Immigrant Family Separation

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) watchdog will look into whether the U.S. administration has been separating families in immigration custody, CNN reported. The response from the department’s inspector general comes after a letter was sent by Senator Dick Durbin,a Democrat from Illinois, asking about reports that the Trump administration has been separating immigrant children from their parents.

DHCS Inspector General John V Kelly will look into whether the agency is separating the children of asylum seekers from their parents, the report added.

The move comes after Durbin led a coalition of Democrats in March, asking for a review into media reports over the issue. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on March 9 against the practice, saying it violates due process, Guardian had reported earlier. As per their lawsuit, the organization had identified 429 cases of family separation from its work, and from legal service providers and social service agencies. The cases, which include toddlers to young teenagers, happened “more or less” in the past 15 months, the Guardian reported quoting Michelle Brané, Director of the Women’s Refugee Commission migrant rights and justice program.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen spoke before the Congress last week, saying that the department only separates adults from children in custody “in the interest of the child.” She elaborated with an example of a suspicion of possible human trafficking or if they are unable to confirm if the child is traveling with his or her parents or legal guardians.

She did, however, concede that in case of a Congolese woman who was separated from her young daughter for months, the process of verification “took too long.” This is the case that prompted ACLU to file the lawsuit, following which the mother and daughter were reunited.

The letter from acting Homeland Security Inspector General John V Kelly, accessed by CNN, stated that his office will “conduct a review of this matter” and requested a follow-up meeting to discuss it further.

An earlier court ruling had held that children cannot be detained in what are essentially immigration jails for longer than three weeks. The Trump administration has called this ruling a “loophole,” which allowed immigrants to live in the country for potentially years as their case works its way through the court system, the CNN reported.

DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton said in a statement that the department has no policy of separating families “for deterrence” purposes.

“Occasionally this results in separating children from an adult they are traveling with if we cannot ascertain the parental relationship or if we think the child is otherwise in danger,” Houlton said. “Unfortunately, we have seen many instances where human traffickers have used children to cross the border to gain illegal entry to our country as they know they are unlikely to be detained. This is one of the very loopholes we would like to see Congress end in order to gain operational control of our border.”