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Original Date Announced
August 5, 2025The New York Times reports that ICE is using a new tactic, "interior separation," to pressure noncitizen families to leave the United States. The Times found nine cases in which ICE has detained parents and separated them from their children—taking the children into federal custody or sending them to foster homes—after the parents refused to board commercial deportation flights. Agency records note in one case that "interior separation is approved;" other records show an ICE official concluded that an interior separation had no "implications/requirements" with respect to the court-ordered settlement agreement in the Ms. L family separation lawsuit that involved border separations.
A former ICE official stated that she was not aware of previous administrations "using family separation as a consequence for failure to comply" with deportation orders. Current DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied that there is a new policy on family separations; she stated that parents "willfully choose" family separation by not complying with deportation orders.
Two families interviewed reported that they refused to board flights to Russia because they fear torture or political persecution upon return.
Trump 2.0 [ID #1899]
2025.08.05 Reported: Inside Trump’s New Tactic to Separate Immigrant Families - New York TimesCurrent Status
NoneOriginal Trump Policy Status
Status: Reported Final/ActualTrump Administration Action: Change in PracticeAssociated or Derivative Policies
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Commentary
2025.09.17 Washington Post - Trump's mass deportations bring a new wave of family separations
The Washington Post reports that since President Trump took office, ICE officers have referred more than 400 children, many separated from their families, to shelters run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). ICE disputes these numbers. Lawyers are hearing reports of family separations occurring "during immigration court hearings, workplace raids and elsewhere" as a part of interior immigration-enforcement efforts.
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