UnidosUS Releases “Beyond the Border: Family Separation in the Trump Era”

Comprehensive report of Trump immigration policies demonstrates devastating impact on more than six million U.S.-citizen children

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, UnidosUS (formerly NCLR) released the report “Beyond the Border: Family Separation in the Trump Era,” during a morning panel discussion at its headquarters where UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía gave welcoming remarks. The panel included Carlos Guevara, author of the report and Senior Policy Advisor for UnidosUS; Bitta Mostofi, Commissioner of the NY Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs; Angie Castro Moreno LCSW-C, LICSW, Clinical Mental Health Manager at UnidosUS Affiliate La Clínica del Pueblo; and Manny A. Aceves, Ed. D., Chief External Impact Officer of KIPP LA Public Schools‏, who offered a critical look at the real impact Trump’s immigration policies are having on families across the country, particularly school-age children.

The report provides a comprehensive look at the Trump administration’s systematic policy of family separations and attacks on our current legal immigration system and its widespread economic, health and educational impacts on many of our nation’s children. Millions of U.S.-citizen children are at risk of being separated from their parents every day because of these policies, in fact, by some estimates, between 4.1 million and 5.7 million U.S.-citizen children live with an undocumented resident, and about 475,000 U.S.-citizen children could be impacted if their parents lose legal protections under the DACA and TPS programs.

“The Trump administration’s singular focus on enforcement-only policies including indiscriminate targeting, revived worksite enforcement and measures aimed at chipping away at our nation’s legal immigration system, are threatening the lives and futures of a generation of American children. Rather than providing real comprehensive reform and necessary modernization of our immigration systems, the administration has put itself in the business of separating families and propagating fear and anxiety among immigrant populations throughout the United States.” said Carlos Guevara, Senior Policy Advisor.

The report delves into specific areas of harm the Trump administration’s policies are having on citizen children including economic deprivation, educational disruption, decreased access to safety net programs that provide health and nutritional support, as well as threats to their overall safety.

“About a year ago today, the country began learning of what many observers denounced as an immoral and inhumane de facto family separation policy, which rightfully has caused outrage among our communities. Unfortunately, these horrific happenings are the tip of a very large iceberg in terms of the widespread, devastating impact of this administration’s systematic and increasingly hostile attack on the nation’s immigrant population. This is why it is so critical that Congress exercise its constitutional obligation to conduct meaningful oversight and that those charged with upholding immigration laws remember that they have the authority to exercise discretion on how those laws are enforced. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable members of our society—our children—aren’t bearing the brunt of these hateful, discriminatory policies,” concluded Guevara.