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ACLU Says Trump Admin Began Family Separations in 2017, Months Before “Zero Tolerance” Policy

HeadlineJul 12, 2021

In immigration news, government data obtained by the ACLU has revealed the Trump administration began separating asylum-seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border as early as May 2017, nearly a year before Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy officially went into effect. From July to December of 2017, some 234 families were separated in Yuma, Arizona, according to government documents, though the overall numbers are likely higher. Many children remain separated from their parents four years later, while some parents are missing after having been deported. Some of the families originally came from Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Angola and Russia.

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