Webinar: Where Are the Children? Family Separation Becomes U.S. Immigration Enforcement Policy

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Since October 2017, the U.S. government has forcibly separated more than 700 children—including 100-plus who are under four years old—from their parents as they arrive on the country’s southwest border seeking refuge. A new ‘zero-tolerance’ policy of detaining every person apprehended crossing the border illegally for later prosecution has resulted in a de facto family separation policy: children, who cannot be held in the same facilities as the adults they cross the border with, are taken from parents and caregivers. As the numbers of mothers and children fleeing violence in Central America surges, this has resulted in hundreds desperate asylum seekers reaching the United States only to see their children taken away from them. Administration officials say prosecution is necessary to deter illegal crossings and that some portion of crossers are human traffickers posing as parents, while advocates note the traumatic and long-lasting impact on children and note that most arrivals have been driven to the United States for humanitarian reasons. Join us for this one-and-a-half-hour call to hear from a panel of experts on the current situation, the impact of this policy on families and children, and how philanthropy can respond.