Summary

ORR official White was informed the increase in separations was due to a pilot program of separating families and that this program was shut down. In December Kirstjen Nielsen is confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security. Only Senator Kamala Harris submits written questions regarding separations, and Nielsen responds she has no knowledge of a separation policy and that she would share such a policy with Congress should she become aware of one. Eleven days into her office, Nielsen was given the possible nationwide policy of separating families in a confidential memo. She does not share this with Congress.

Jennifer Podkul, a child advocate for KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), and other advocacy groups mark the increase of family separations at the border even before Trump assumes office. At the annual stakeholders meeting of ORR in January 2018, many service express concern over this...