Federal officials were caught off guard when the Trump administration announced its “zero tolerance” immigration policy on migrants crossing the southwest border.
The policy to criminally prosecute anyone who crossed the border illegally, announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April, was reversed months later by President Trump, but only after it caused a public outcry due to the separation of parents and children.
The policy was fully instated in May, but because they did not know in advance about the policy, officials at the two agencies tasked with processing the migrant families were not prepared to enforce it.
The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ nonpartisan investigative branch, released the report on Wednesday.
“Officials told us that the agencies did not take specific planning steps because they did not have advance notice,” the GAO found. “Officials we interviewed stated that they became aware of the April 2018 [zero tolerance] memo when it was announced publicly.”
Enforcement of the police led to the separation of nearly 3,000 children from their parents, and Trump eventually halted them.
Ahead of the April announcement,the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services did not have a “consistent way to indicate in their data systems children and parents separated at the border,” the report revealed.
In April and July, their databases were updated, but “it is too soon to know the extent to which these changes, if fully implemented, will consistently indicate when children have been separated from their parents, or will help reunify families, if appropriate," the report said.
Katie Waldman, a DHS spokeswoman, said federal agencies have worked “tirelessly” to reunite thousands of children with their families under a court order.
“In addition, we have prevented the reunification of children with adults who were not their parents, or were unsafe for children, based on reports by the child of abuse, or on past convictions for crimes involving child cruelty, rape, murder, and domestic violence,” Waldman said, adding that DHS will continue to refer illegal immigrants for prosecution.
The GAO report comes as the Trump administration grapples with an expected “caravan” of Central American migrants, which the president has said will not be allowed in. The roughly 7,000 migrants are in Mexico, and fled El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The Trump administration is also grappling with a jump in attempted border crossings.
Government data released Tuesday show 100,000 more people were caught by federal law enforcement officers while attempting to illegally enter the United States from Mexico in fiscal 2018 than the previous year.
A total of 521,090 people were apprehended between ports of entry as well as denied entry at the ports along the southwest border from Oct. 1, 2017, through Sept. 30, 2018, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
In a statement, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who requested the review, said the report shows the choas in the administration.
“The gross failures detailed in this report will be long remembered, but hopefully never repeated,” said Pallone, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The GAO report is similar to a DHS inspector general report released in September, which said the department was not prepared to handle the zero tolerance policy.
