Top HHS official warned Trump administration against separating immigrant families

Show Caption Hide Caption Immigrant couple speaks after ICE detention An immigrant couple who was detained by immigration authorities after attempting to visit their daughter at a military base has been released from custody to their home in Brooklyn. The couple spoke to reporters Thursday about their ordeal. (July 26)

WASHINGTON — A top Health and Human Services official told Congress on Tuesday that he and others repeatedly warned the Trump administration that its policy of separating immigrant families apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border would not be in “the best interest of the child.”

“During the deliberative process over the previous year, we raised a number of concerns in the (Office of Refugee Resettlement) program about any policy which would result in family separation due to concerns we had about the best interest of the child as well as about whether that would be operationally supportable with the bed capacity that we have," Jonathan White, with the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, told lawmakers at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

White said he is now working to reunite more than 400 kids with their families "as quickly as humanly possible." The parents of these children were deported without their kids.

White drew high praise earlier this month from the federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to reunite all separated children.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw had become "exasperated" with the slow pace of reunifications and expressed his frustration during a July 16 court hearing. He blasted a different HHS official who had filed a court document that Sabraw described as a clear attempt to deflect blame for any damage caused by the administration’s "zero tolerance" policy.

During the hearing, White appeared in Sabraw’s San Diego courtroom and laid out his understanding of what led to the separations, and his plans to marshal multiple government agencies to comply with the judge’s order. Sabraw showered White with praise for his reunification plan, and for his willingness to accept the "undisputed facts that have led to this difficult situation" and the "responsibility" of the government to fix it.

"Commander White is exactly the person that is needed," Sabraw told him in court that day. "I have every confidence that you are the right person to do this."

The government is continuing to reunite families after Sabraw ordered the administration to do so in response to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The latest number of immigrant children who remain in detention and apart from their parents stands at 711, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The parents of 431 of those kids have already been deported, while the parents of 120 children waived their right to reunify with them. Sixty-seven other children had parents or guardians that raised a 'red flag' about their fitness for the child following background checks.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson, in an interview on Fox News on Tuesday, said federal officials at HHS are working with foreign consulates and others to identify the parents of the 711 children to reunite them.

The children were separated at the border from their parents under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy when they tried to illegally enter the country at the U.S-Mexico border.

The Trump administration instituted a “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy in an effort to deter families trying to enter the country illegally.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DHS' Nielsen implemented the policy in earnest in May. Under previous administrations, most people caught crossing the border illegally were placed in civil deportation proceedings, which allowed them to be released into the country to await deportation hearings. The Trump administration refers to that policy as “catch and release” and has sought to end it.

Under the “zero tolerance” policy, most families caught crossing the border illegally have been charged with a criminal violation. That means parents are sent to adult detention centers. A combination of U.S. laws and a 1997 court settlement prevent children from staying in detention centers for more than 20 days, which prompted the Trump administration to separate the families.

As word got out about the family separations, Democrats and Republicans bashed the administration, which led to Trump signing an executive order to end family separations.