Report: More Than 700 Children Taken From Parents at U.S. Border in Six-Month Period

The Department of Homeland Security has separated more than 700 children from immigrants claiming to be their parents at the border since October, The New York Times reports. More than 100 of those children were reportedly under the age of 4 at the time of the separation. The Trump administration has repeatedly proposed implementing a strict separation policy at the border to deter immigration, but officials at the Department of Homeland Security have denied that such a policy is in place. The agency had previously declined to provide statistics on the number of separations but suggested the numbers were fairly low. On Friday, however, after three federal officials confirmed to the Times that about 700 separations have taken place, the agency finally admitted to “approximately 700” such cases. For some families, the separation ends up being indefinite, as many children arriving in shelters lack the proper records to identify their parents.