As the year comes to an end, we wanted to do two things.

First: We’d like to thank you for taking the time to read and listen to our immigration work. 

And second: We wanted to look back at all of the stories that made 2019 such a significant year for our team.

US government uses clandestine facilities to detain immigrant children

My colleagues Aura Bogado and Patrick Michels uncovered that children as young as 9 years old were being shipped off to behavioral health facilities across the country, without the knowledge of the attorneys who are court-ordered to represent them.

Lawmakers noticed our reporting and weighed in. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, told us that the government needed to “provide answers immediately about where they are holding asylum-seeking children.” The government listened. It acknowledged using these facilities, which specialize in providing care for youth with mental health and behavioral challenges, and for the first time provided details of where it sends some migrant children to the lawyers that represent them.

The U visa is supposed to help protect immigrants and solve crimes. But police are undermining it

Last month, I finished a 10-month investigation exposing how law enforcement officials nationwide are undermining a special visa program for immigrant crime victims.

I found that from border communities in Texas to some of New York’s biggest cities, police leaders are blocking immigrants from even applying for a potentially life-changing visa and sowing distrust, affecting the safety of their entire communities far beyond immigrant neighborhoods. My analysis of policies from more than 100 agencies serving large immigrant communities found that nearly 1 of every 4 create barriers never envisioned under the U visa program. 

Leaked immigration court official’s directive could violate rules that protect families from deportation

Aura broke this story about a high ranking immigration court official whose directive that judges wrap up all cases within 365 days likely violated due process and court protections for immigrant families.

+ Speaking of immigration judges, Patrick also profiled a retired judge who began her career as an advocate for immigrants, but gained notoriety among immigration lawyers for her harsh treatment of their clients. In particular, she had a reputation for misgendering transgender people in her courtroom and denying most asylum claims that came before her. “I was a tough judge if that's how you want to characterize it,” Judge Lorraine Muñoz told him. “I was a demanding judge. I have standards. It's just something that I felt was a duty to, you know, do your best.”

The enduring consequences of Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy

In January, I learned that border officers split up a Salvadoran father from his two children based on an unsubstantiated claim that he was involved with the gang MS-13. (ProPublica later filled in more details of the family’s ordeal with an in-depth story from the perspective of the father’s attorney.)

A few months later, I told you about the legal guardians that remained separated from their children because the federal court case that forced the government to reunite families excludes them from reunification.

The problems with the federal government’s major expansion of shelters for migrant children

Throughout the year, we reported extensively on the government’s plan to expand its network of shelters for unaccompanied children. Aura told us about facilities holding children as young as 3 months old. “I've been able to finally confirm that at least one of the little kids that we're talking about was indeed separated from their mom and that two more were separated from other family members,” Aura told our show host, Al Letson, this summer in our show “In harm’s way.”

We learned that several new shelter providers had troubling track records, like a private firm named VisionQuest that has struggled to open new facilities over local governments’ concerns over its track record. We also uncovered that several other providers have little experience in residential care, lack proper licensing and have troubling track records of state violations.

‘They used the kids to get parents like me’

We went to Philadelphia to tell the story of Wilson, a father who was arrested by ICE after he took in his daughter after she was detained trying to cross the border alone. 

At the time of his arrest, ICE was conducting something called the Human Smuggling Disruption Initiative, which entailed arresting sponsors of unaccompanied minors suspected of hiring coyotes to bring kids into the U.S. More than 400 people were arrested between June and August 2017.

But our review of the operation casts doubt on that official narrative. Patrick and I searched hundreds of smuggling cases and found only one case that was clearly connected to the program.
 

How jailing migrant children became an act of compassion for one Northern California community

Following family separation, some residents of Yolo County believed the county should opt out of the immigration business in protest. As Patrick reported, the community began a conversation about whether to cancel its contract with the federal government to hold children in the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility. Eventually, it came to a surprising conclusion: Yolo should keep detaining the children. In the words of one community organizer: “If these kids go, we don’t know where they’ll end up.”

Our work is far from over. We’re already digging into new stories and can’t wait to share them with you in 2020.

Find all of our work here.

HEAR MY LATEST INTERVIEW ABOUT MY INVESTIGATION INTO THE U VISA

Last week, I spoke to PRI’s “The World” host, Marco Werman, about my U visa investigation. I found that nearly 1 in 4 law enforcement agencies serving large immigrant communities create barriers never envisioned under the U visa program, which grants temporary status to immigrant crime victims that are helpful to police and prosecutors in an investigation.

“Basically, victims are at the mercy of whatever internal rules law enforcement choose to abide by,” I told Marco. “The U visa was created by Congress in order to help police departments build trust with the immigrant community. It was meant to be a crime-fighting tool for law enforcement. And when law enforcement agencies don’t take advantage of it… then their communities are less safe.”

In light of my reporting, a Florida lawmaker recently said she is planning to file legislation to force all departments to follow the same standards for handling these kinds of cases. As of this week, the bill is still being drafted. 

Listen to the interview here.
 

3 THINGS WE’RE READING

1. Internal documents show that government officials scrambled to track separated migrant children and parents. (The Center for Public Integrity and The Texas Tribune)

Emails and documents obtained by reporters provide a behind-the-scenes view of the government’s “chaotic attempt” to track separated families after a federal judge ruled that they should be reunified. Officials relied on DNA kits to determine the parentage of children younger than age 4, for instance, and discussed how to arrange collect calls for detained parents.

The kicker: In June 2018, months after the Trump administration began its so-called Zero Tolerance policy to deter migrants trying to enter the United States, an employee working for the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement described a 5-year-old’s despair at a shelter. “Minor was separated at the border from his biological mother. Minor was tearful when he arrived and would not speak or engage in conversation with anyone,” the caregiver wrote in a report. This document and others shed light on a social experiment that was both cruel and chaotic.

2. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is creating new civilian jobs to conduct welfare checks on migrants as they’re processed at the border. (El Paso Times) 

Immigrant advocates and lawmakers recently asked the federal agency to create civilian positions as more families with young children arrive at the border to seek asylum. It’s a move that advocates “have recommended to curb allegations of abusive treatment in border enforcement.” According to a job posting, the new employees will help "with humanitarian care and intake processing of detainees.”

The kicker: In leading multiple congressional delegations to visit border stations over the past year, (U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar) said, "It didn’t take me very long to understand that it is counter-intuitive and inefficient to have highly trained law enforcement agents — men and women with a gun and a badge — to be handling processing functions and, more importantly, caring for families and children.”

3. The Trump administration has begun sending asylum-seeking migrants, including families, to Guatemala. (Los Angeles Times)

Under a “safe third country” agreement, the U.S. government will only consider asylum claims if migrants were denied asylum in another country within the Northern Triangle. Among those sent to Guatemala recently are two families from Honduras.  

The kicker: Experts, advocates, the United Nations and Guatemalan officials say the country doesn’t have the capacity to handle any sizable influx, much less process potential protection claims. Guatemala’s own struggles with corruption, violence and poverty helped push more than 270,000 Guatemalans to the U.S. border in fiscal 2019.

Your tips have been vital to our immigration coverage. Keep them coming: [email protected]. 

– Laura C. Morel

Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.