Arguably the most haunting tragedy for parents in the past few years has been witnessing the separation of migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border. No one ever wants to imagine a level of desperation and fear befalling a mom or dad that they must flee their home to find safety elsewhere in the world. To observe the visceral pain of a child separated from their parent is impossible to stomach. But a grim update published this week reminds us that the carnage is far from over: hundreds of those children still have not reunited with their parents, up to three years later.

As early as 2017, the policy of pulling kids away from family was quietly engaged at the Mexico-United States boarder. Moms, dads, and relatives were either deported or detained in a manner that tracked few if any crucial details about ties between the adults and the children.

A 2019 legal decision demanded that government officials to share names and all pertinent data with the American Civil Liberties Union and immigration lawyers, who were determined to reunite these families. But the crisis has not been resolved in the months since; 545 kids have not yet rejoined their parents – the majority of whom are believed to be back somewhere in Central America.

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ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt spoke to the Washington Post about the ongoing, heart-wrenching problem. “Unfortunately, there’s an enormous amount of work yet to be done to find these families,” he explained; “Not only are we still looking for hundreds of families, but we would have never even known about these families if the Trump administration had its way.” This is not to say that the ACLU and the dedicated personnel working the case have fallen short of achieving any success.

More than 2,800 families were initially separated by the zero-tolerance policy of the current administration in 2018, with another 1,500 kids having been pulled from relatives in a secret El Paso pilot program in the year before that. Children and relatives were scattered all over the U.S., distributed among foster care and detention centers. When public outcry compelled a reversal of the policy, an immediate, concerted effort began to reconnect kids with parents and relatives. Then, coronavirus hit.

The systemic shutdown of public life in 2020 caused the search to grind to a halt. Recovery efforts have resumed, but the obstacles are still significant. Gelernt noted that there approximately 75 families out of the 545 who they may be able to reach by phone; lawyers indicate anther 187 have been identified but not contacted successfully to date.

The remaining 283? No leads yet at all. “At some point, we’re going to hit a group of families that becomes very hard to find,” Gelernt explained. “It’s not inconceivable that we’ll still be looking for them a year from now.”

Yet, the efforts of the professionals involved will not be stopped. Human rights lawyers and non-profit personnel are hustling to trace families through the most rugged terrain – and sometimes gang-controlled territories – of Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Though the work is far from over, the dedication of those involved in the worldwide search is unmatched.

“When we will find these parents is impossible to know,” Gelernt said, “but we will not stop until we find every last family.”

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Source: The Washington Post