Families Once Torn Apart at Border Face Renewed Threat of Separation

Seven years ago, the first Trump administration triggered global condemnation when news broke that it was forcibly separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico Border. The outcry led the administration to shutter the program , but thousands of families remained shattered.

The American Academy of Pediatrics called the policy “government-sanctioned child abuse.” Physicians who examined statements from many separated parents and children noted that most met the diagnostic criteria for major mental health disorders as a result of their experience at the border.

A class-action lawsuit followed, and the Biden administration later settled the case. In the settlement agreement, the federal government promised to repair some of the damage by reuniting the families in the U.S