A newly released draft memo by officials in the departments of Homeland Security and Justice reveals how far the Trump administration was willing to go to deter migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum, from approaching the US-Mexico border.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has requested numerous documents and communications related to the administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that led to the separation last year of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally.
Since the Trump administration announced it would end its practice of separating undocumented families in June under its "zero tolerance" immigration policy, 81 children have been separated from family members after being apprehended at the southern border, according to Department of Homeland Security numbers released Thursday.
A report from the US Government Accountability Office released Wednesday describes chaos and confusion among federal agencies this past summer over efforts to reunify undocumented children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border.
Border Patrol agents arrested 16,658 family members in September, marking the highest such total for any month, The Washington Post has reported.
