The American Civil Liberties Union has cited instances of families seeking asylum separated at ports of entry, but the current administration has said such separations are based on questions about a familial relationship or danger to the child.

1. Families won't be separated anymore. On June 20, Donald Trump signed an executive order reversing his administration's policy of separating families at the border. The Trump administration’s decision to prosecute everyone suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally led to more than 2,300 children separated from parents or guardians in roughly a monthlong period. The “zero tolerance” policy applies to all people arrested at the border — including people traveling with families and seeking asylum. The administration has encouraged asylum-seekers to head to ports of entry to apply for refuge. But the number of families seeking asylum at ports of entry appears to be causing backups on the Mexican side of the border. In the first eight months of fiscal year 2018, families seeking asylum at ports of entry rose by 9 percent.

2. What happens to families now? Parents and children will be detained together.

3. How will families be reunited? There is no formal process right now. The Department of Homeland Security has provided parents with numbers to call either U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR) to locate their children. While the administration is no longer separating families, there are still more than 2,300 children who have been separated. Speaking to the process before the executive order, an ICE spokesperson said in an email to POLITICO: “Once a parent is prosecuted and the child is placed in ORR custody, ICE will make every effort to reunite the child with the parent once the parent’s immigration case has been adjudicated.” Under the old system, a child and parent were separated and entered into different points of the immigration system. Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told POLITICO it can be a bureaucratic nightmare to reunite them. “We’ve already heard stories where the parent is deported, subject to expedited process, while the child is still in the U.S. and they are not able to reunite before then.” A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told POLITICO that it’s possible for a parent to be released on time served but also be separated from their child. Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, which oversees ORR, said on a Tuesday call with reporters that he didn’t know how many of the separated children have been reunited with parents or guardians. Wagner said the policy was new, and they were working on how best to reunify families after adjudication.

4. Did other administrations separate families? Yes – but the majority of families were released. President Trump has repeatedly claimed Democrats passed a law that separates children from their parents. This isn’t true. Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High Taxes, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2018 Prior to the surge of unaccompanied children crossing the border in 2014, both the Bush and Obama administrations detained families together in federal detention centers for months at a time. But in 2015, a California federal district judge ruled that families could not be detained for more than 20 days, and children could not be held in federal jails. Previously, only unaccompanied minors could not be held in jail. “Left with the choice of do we release the family or do we separate them … they [the Obama administration] chose in most cases not to separate them, but to release them, ” said Brown. Brown also said that until the zero-tolerance policy was enacted, the Trump administration released most families unless it suspected trafficking or if a parent had a criminal conviction.

5. Where are these families coming from? The majority are coming from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. President Trump has repeatedly claimed Mexican citizens are bringing drugs and crime across the border, but Customs and Border Protection data show a decline in Mexicans crossing the border and a dramatic increase in migrants coming from other countries. Many of these immigrants came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador hoping to escape the worsening security and economic situations back home. In 2015, El Salvador and Honduras had the highest homicide rate in the world, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Most border crossers are not Mexican 2.0M Mexican 1.5 1.0 0.5 Non-Mexicans 0 2000 ’17 2.0M people Mexican 1.5 1.0 0.5 Non-Mexicans 0 2000 ’17 More families are coming from Central America El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico 30k families 24,657 24,122 27,114 23,067 22,366 20 20,226 10 3,481 2,217 0 2016 2017 SOURCE: U.S. Customs and Border Protection