U.S. was unprepared for zero-tolerance immigration

Immigration officials were not prepared this summer to manage the consequences of a zero-tolerance policy at the Southwest border, which resulted in the separation of nearly 3,000 children from their parents, Homeland Security’s watchdog said in a report made public on Tuesday.

The resulting confusion along the border led to misinformation among separated parents who did not know why they had been taken from their children or how to reach them, longer detention for children at border facilities meant for short-term stays, and difficulty in identifying and reuniting families. And backlogs at ports of entry may have pushed some into illegally crossing the U.S.Mexico border, the report found.

While the Trump administration had been widely criticized for the policy, the criticism previously came mostly from political opponents and not from independent, nonpolitical investigators.

Investigators with Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General compiled the report after speaking with about 50 immigration employees, plus 17 detainees and parents who had been separated from their children and later released. They also reviewed documents and data. Homeland Security is the umbrella department for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.