Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost today admitted that her agency does not have a policy that governs the actual physical act of separating a child from his or her parents, and that the agency did not consult with child trauma experts prior to executing an Administration policy that separated thousands of children from their families.
The astonishing admission came during questions from Rep. Greg Stanton during today’s House Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing examining the Administration’s family separation policy.
During questioning, Rep. Greg Stanton addressed Chief Provost and asked, “Are there written policies specifically about advising agents on the actual physical separation of parent and child?”
Chief Provost responded, “Not that I am aware of.”
Stanton asked whether the Border Patrol consulted with child trauma experts before beginning to physically separate thousands of children from their parents. Chief Provost again responded, “Not that I am aware of.”
The Administration – to this day – continues to separate children from their families at the border.
Many reports have indicated that federal agents sometimes physically took children from the arms of their parents, were deceptive in luring a parent or child away from each other, or that families were separated while sleeping. Today’s admission appears to be the first that Border Patrol officials did not even examine how to separate children from their families in a way that produces the least amount of psychological harm for the child.
“The Administration’s family separation policy is inhumane, and it is even more shocking that federal officials who executed this plan did so in a way with total disregard to the impact of that trauma on children,” said Stanton. “What we learned today is morally reprehensible.”