At Least 1,712 Other Migrant Children Might Have Been Separated From Their Families by the Trump Administration

Federal authorities have identified at least 1,712 migrant children that may have been separated from their parents in addition to those pulled away during the Trump administration's “zero tolerance” immigration crackdown, NBC reports, citing transcripts from a recent court hearing.

U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the administration to identify children separated before its zero tolerance order went into effect last May. More than 2,800 children were believed to have been taken from their parents as a result of that policy.

Sabraw gave the Trump administration six months to sort through some 50,000 records to identify other children separated from their families. The list of 1,712 additional children was sent to Customs and Border Protection by the administration as part of that review.

“Reports that the Trump administration may have separated 1,712 more migrant children from their families than previously known confirms what we already knew: this administration is stocked with liars,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, who chairs the advocacy group Families Belong Together.

“More than a year has passed since this administration began ripping families apart at the border, and they’re still scrambling to identify all of the children who were separated from their families. How do we know even more children haven’t been separated from their families?”

The report comes days after a 2½-year-old boy died after being taken into U.S. immigration custody. It was the fourth reported death of a child in immigration custody in six months.

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