On Friday, officials with the Department of Homeland Security denied a news report that federal authorities forcibly separated a breastfeeding mother from her baby while she was awaiting prosecution for entering the country illegally.
A DHS official told reporters, “We do not separate babies from adults. It’s a bright line.”
“The undocumented immigrant from Honduras sobbed as she told an attorney Tuesday how federal authorities took her daughter while she breastfed the child in a detention center, where she was awaiting prosecution for entering the country illegally,” reported CNN this week.
According to the Daily Caller, Carlos Diaz, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman, told CNN in an email “Nothing could be further from the truth and these allegations are unsubstantiated.”
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The Attorney General directed United States Attorneys on the Southwest Border to prosecute all amenable adults who illegally enter the country, including those accompanied by their children, for 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a), illegal entry.
Children whose parents are referred for prosecution are placed with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
From DHS – Fact Sheet: Zero Tolerance Immigration Prosecutions – Families
Prosecution/Removal Proceedings
Individuals who are apprehended by Border Patrol are taken to stations for processing.
All individuals, including both adults and children, provide biographical information and, in many cases, fingerprints.
Border Patrol agents enter information into appropriate electronic systems of records, including information about the claimed or confirmed family relationship.
Individuals who are believed to have committed any crime, including illegal entry, will be referred to the Department of Justice and presented before a federal judge.
After the conclusion of any criminal case, individuals will be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for appropriate immigration proceedings.
Any individual processed for removal, including those who are criminally prosecuted for illegal entry, may seek asylum or other protection available under law.
Alien children may also present an individual claim for asylum and depending on the circumstances, may undergo separate immigration proceedings.
Communication and Coordination for Families
Children in HHS ORR custody are provided with appropriate care, including medical care, mental health care, and educational programs. Children are normally held in a temporary shelter or hosted by an appropriate family.
While in HHS care, ORR begins the process of locating a sponsor for the child for discharge from federal custody.
A sponsor can be a parent, adult sibling, relative, or appropriate home that meets criteria for the safety of the child and continuation of any immigration proceedings. A parent who is prosecuted and later released can be a sponsor and ask HHS to release his or her child back into his or her custody.
In Fiscal Year 2017, 90 percent of the children were released to a sponsor who was either a parent or close relative.
HHS and DHS work to facilitate communication between detained parents and their children in HHS care.
ICE is dedicating a facility as its primary family reunification and removal center.
Parents and legal guardians who have been criminally prosecuted and are awaiting removal will normally be detained there.
All ICE facility staff who interact with parents will receive trauma-informed care training.
ICE is augmenting mental health care staffing, to include trained clinical staff, to provide mental health services to detained parents who have been separated from their children.
ICE will work with detained parents to provide regular communication with their children through video teleconferencing, phone, and tablets.
HHS and ICE can take steps to facilitate family reunification for purposes of removal, consistent with federal law where the parent or legal guardian is capable of providing for the physical and mental well-being of the child and comports with the wishes of the parent or legal guardian.