ACLU: Thousands of forcibly separated families still not reunited

Published: Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 12:31pm
Updated: Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 2:39pm
Audio icon Download mp3 (10.88 MB)

In the first years of the Trump administration, the former president’s so-called “zero-tolerance” policy sparked outrage as videos of migrant children being forcibly separated from their parents by Customs and Border Protection officials surfaced. Trump officially ended the policy in 2018, and the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit on their behalf. 

The judge in that case ordered that families be quickly reunited, but it turned out not to be that simple.

Still today, years later, Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, says many of the thousands of families who were torn apart still haven’t been reunited.

The Show spoke with Gelernt, who was lead counsel on the case. 

More stories from KJZZ