Because American-born children cannot legally join their parents in immigration detention, families separated by enforcement actions face an immediate placement question: friends, extended family, or — in the documented cases ProPublica reviewed — strangers.
Internal directives reviewed by reporters indicate the administration has revised the relevant operational guidance multiple times, narrowing the circumstances in which detained parents can arrange custody for their citizen children before being moved or removed.
The dataset is conservative. The true figure, child-welfare officials told reporters, is almost certainly higher.
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