{"slug":"trump-children-separation-tender-age","title":"Tender Age Shelters: Separating and Warehousing Infants and Toddlers","date":"2018-06-19","lastUpdated":"2018-10-01","description":"The Zero Tolerance family separation policy — applied without any exception for age — resulted in infants and toddlers under 5 being separated from their parents and placed in 'tender age' shelters. Whistleblowers and journalists documented these facilities housing babies and young children in cribs with no parents, under the care of overwhelmed staff. Pediatricians and child development specialists warned the separations would cause lasting developmental and psychological harm.","summary":"While the Zero Tolerance policy is documented elsewhere, the specific treatment of children under 5 — the 'tender age' population — constituted a distinct category of harm. Infants as young as a few months old were taken from parents and placed in facilities where they were cared for by strangers. Whistleblowers described children crying inconsolably. The American Academy of Pediatrics called the policy 'child abuse.' A federal court gave the government 30 days to reunify this group; the administration missed the deadline.","category":"deportation-to-torture","severity":"extreme","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/immigration-us-news-ap-top-news-politics-texas-aa24249e8e4744d3b4a05ce0e47c56d5","title":"AP Exclusive: US held migrant kids in 'tender age' shelters","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/tender-age-shelters-family-separation.html","title":"U.S. Is Holding Migrant Babies in 'Tender Age' Shelters","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/AAP-Statement-Opposing-Separation-of-Children-and-Parents-at-the-Border.aspx","title":"AAP Calls Family Separation 'Child Abuse'","publisher":"American Academy of Pediatrics"},{"url":"https://www.propublica.org/article/listen-to-children-who-have-just-been-separated-from-their-parents-at-the-border","title":"Listen to Children Who've Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border","publisher":"ProPublica"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["family-separation","tender-age","infants","children","first-term","child-abuse","Zero-Tolerance"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2018-05-07","title":"Zero Tolerance announced","summary":"Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces Zero Tolerance — directing CBP to refer all illegal border crossers for criminal prosecution, which automatically triggers family separation because children cannot be held in adult detention facilities."},{"date":"2018-06-18","title":"AP reports on tender age shelters","summary":"The Associated Press exclusively reports on 'tender age' shelters in South Texas holding babies and young children under 5 who have been separated from their parents. Staff at the facilities describe children who cannot be comforted and who cry for their parents constantly."},{"date":"2018-06-18","title":"ProPublica audio published","summary":"ProPublica publishes audio from inside a CBP holding facility of migrant children crying for their parents. The audio, including a Salvadoran child crying 'Papá' repeatedly, becomes one of the defining documents of the Zero Tolerance crisis."},{"date":"2018-06-19","title":"Nielsen: 'not aware' of tender age shelters","summary":"At a press briefing, DHS Secretary Nielsen says she is 'not aware' of tender age shelters — a statement immediately contradicted by the AP reporting and widely called false. Nielsen also says 'we don't have a policy of separating families at the border' — a claim contradicted by the Zero Tolerance announcement."},{"date":"2018-06-20","title":"Trump signs order ostensibly ending separation","summary":"Under intense political pressure, Trump signs an executive order purporting to end family separation. The order does not address tender age children already separated."},{"date":"2018-07-26","title":"Court deadline: 103 children under 5 not yet reunified","summary":"The court's 30-day deadline for reunifying children under 5 passes. The government reports it has reunified 57 of the 103 children in the under-5 group identified by the government, but disputes whether all 103 meet the court's criteria for reunification — a dispute the court largely rejects."}],"location":{"name":"Southwest Key tender age shelters; nationwide HHS/ORR facilities","lat":29.5,"lng":-99.5},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","warCrimeClassification":"confirmed","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"Convention on the Rights of the Child","article":"Articles 3, 7, 8, 9","provision":"Best interests of the child as primary consideration; right to family unity; deliberate separation of infants from parents as a deterrent policy is not in any child's best interests and violates the CRC"},{"statute":"Convention Against Torture","article":"Article 16","provision":"Forcible separation of infants from their parents constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment for both the child and the parent"},{"statute":"Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court","article":"Article 7(1)(d)","provision":"Forcible transfer of population as a crime against humanity — the systematic separation and transfer of children from their families meets the definition when conducted as part of a widespread state policy"}],"iccRelevance":true,"victims":"Children under 5 forcibly separated from their parents under Zero Tolerance, including infants; parents separated from their young children, unable to communicate their whereabouts","structuredVictims":[{"group":"Children under 5 separated from parents under Zero Tolerance","status":"Separated; some held in 'tender age shelters'; 103 children under 5 not reunified by court deadline"}],"structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Jeff Sessions","role":"Attorney General; announced Zero Tolerance","institution":"Department of Justice"},{"name":"Kirstjen Nielsen","role":"Secretary of Homeland Security; said she was 'not aware' of tender age shelters","institution":"DHS"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2018-10-01","summary":"Updated with post-deadline reunification status."}]}}