ICE Asked Parents to Choose Between Family Separation and Prolonged Detention—During a Pandemic

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at family detention centers presented parents with a horrifying question, according to four attorneys with clients at the facilities: Would you rather stay detained together or be separated from your children? In the second scenario, kids would be released from ICE custody while their parents remained locked up in unsafe conditions during a pandemic.

Lawyers with the legal-aid groups RAICES, ALDEA, and Proyecto Dilley say ICE effectively ambushed their clients and blocked parents from consulting attorneys before answering that question. In some cases,...