
DHS Lacked Tech Needed to Successfully Account for Separated Migrant Families [pdf] - infodocket
https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-11/OIG-20-06-Nov19.pdf
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akimball
I do not believe that they lacked pen and paper. They lacked will

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mattnewton
Absolutely, this excuse rings absolutely hollow in the face of now-public DHS
communications from 2017 about using family separation as a deterrent to
immigration. [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-
dis...](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-discussed-
separating-moms-kids-deter-asylum-seekers-feb-n884371)

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lawnchair_larry
Ironically, Google employees are protesting DHS contracts. So they likely made
family separation _worse_ by not working on that problem, and probably leaving
it to inept rent-seeking contractors.

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mattnewton
This assumes that family separation wasn't the goal to begin with, when we
have lots of public statements that it was in fact the goal.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_administration_family_...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_administration_family_separation_policy#Motivation)

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burfog
In the USA, it simply isn't normal for any kind of criminal to bring family to
jail. This is nothing special. It's the same thing that happens when you go to
jail for stealing a car, raping, or getting in a bar fight. Even for a DUI,
the USA will separate a mom from a baby. Family jail is not a thing in the
USA, even for newborns.

In the USA, it is also normal to take children away from abusers. It is child
abuse to walk a kid across a hot desert, through cartel territory, and over a
river or fast-moving canal. Any of the adults should consider themselves lucky
if the USA doesn't file charges for felony child abuse.

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mattnewton
The families being separated here include legal asylum seekers, so the analogy
to criminals is pretty miserable. An example of this is a current lawsuit
filed by the ACLU on behalf of a refugee mother fleeing persecution from the
Republic of Congo who applied for asylum at a legal port of entry and had her
seven year old daughter forcibly taken from her.
[https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice](https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice)

The ACLU has a pretty good breakdown for questions about this here, and
specifically answers whether or not family separation is legally mandated (it
is not, in fact courts have ruled the opposite). It also contrasts the
punishment of illegally crossing the border (a misdemeanor with a sentence of
a few days in jail) with the many-months long periods where children are kept
and not returned. [https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-
right...](https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-
detention/fact-checking-family-separation)

This is not normal, and all of the victims are not criminals. The alternative
was a family program that helped would-be immigrants navigate the system and
either get temporary visas or be denied entry as a family unit. This program
was shut down by the administration despite meeting it's success metrics.
[https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/ice-
shuts-d...](https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/ice-shuts-down-
program-for-asylum-seekers/529887/)

When John Kelly was the head of the DHS he said this child separation policy
was intentionally designed to deter immigration. This is cruel punishment to
keep legal asylum seekers away. [https://thehill.com/latino/322608-dhs-head-
confirms-hes-cons...](https://thehill.com/latino/322608-dhs-head-confirms-hes-
considering-separating-families-at-border)

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drallison
How can any rational person accept this explanation for the DHS failings? Why
have heads not rolled at the DHS over this egregious failure? This is not a
failure of technology. DHS certainly had the technology necessary to track
separated migrant families; their management did not have the smarts to use it
effectively.

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dudeManTheGreat
Is it really surprising that this administration didn't run anything past the
IT dept?

