— Mandy Moore weighed in on (and potentially revived) the “toxic mom group” drama. Whatever happened to DND?
US News
Who Is Caring for These 100,000 Children?
What's going on: During President Donald Trump’s first term, protests erupted across the country over family separations tied to his administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. Eight years later, a new report from the Brookings Institution says the issue has returned on a greater scale. Researchers estimate that more than 100,000 children — about 75% of whom are US citizens — have been separated from their parents amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Experts say this is likely an undercount and could keep climbing since Congress approved an additional $45 billion to expand ICE’s detention capacity. For comparison, roughly 5,500 children were taken from their parents under the 2018 policy, according to Brookings.
Tell me more: The Department of Homeland Security didn’t comment on the numbers, but says that parents can either leave the country with their US-born children or place them with guardians. But advocates argue it’s not a humane choice. In many cases, kids end up with family members or friends already facing financial hardship or uncertain immigration statuses of their own. Separations like these can have long-lasting psychological and physical health impacts — not only on the kids, but on parents and entire communities, per The Society for Research in Child Development. Losing access to a parent can be traumatic. It often means losing a sense of safety, and it can have long-term effects on a child’s ability to manage stress. And even for undocumented immigrant parents who ICE hasn’t arrested, the fear of separation is constant, especially for newly postpartum mothers.
