Exploring the Devastating Impact of Family Separation: An American Tragedy

Thomas A Hebert: Jacob Soboroff sets out the story of this policy clearly and masterfully. His prose is sharp and succinct. The inhumanity and horror of the policy comes through very powerfully. His account of this American Tragedy makes it clear that it was a deliberate policy choice, not merely a bureaucratic snafu. It is an excellent work of contemporary journalism written with great empathy and humanity. The Afterword to the paperback edition makes the story even worse.

Canada on Aug 14, 2021

C.Stastny Books: This non-fiction piece was a reporter’s deep-dive journey into piecing together one of the greatest human-made catastrophes of our nation’s history—the family separations of mostly central-American immigrants from the Zero-Tolerance policies that were put into effect during the Trump administration. With no foundation in place to track these separated children and their parents, thousands of lives were traumatized when these policies were put in place and American agencies—understaffed and underfunded—were not in any position to care for the thousands of “unaccomapanied minors” suddenly thrust into their care.

I came away being sickened the most by the leaders that pushed for these policies and carried out the awful acts (even in secret before they became legitimate announced policies) and held no remorse for their actions, and even profited in their careers from their loyalty to the chief. But there were some in the background who were horrified and trying (with the little power they had) to put families back together when churches, humanitarian agencies, and finally the courts castigated the Trump administration for flagrant abuse of their Constitutional...

United States on Jul 30, 2021

Susan wighton: Very sad for everyone but good read, knowing what happened and why

Canada on Nov 23, 2020

The Black Mzungu: There has been so much chaos, divisiveness, and discourse over the last 4 years that we sometimes become numb to the cruelty of an administration that told us exactly what it planned to do. It is sad that 70 million folks have implicitly endorsed the policy, among others, with their vote. Granted, many voters are not one-issue voters; however, this "zero tolerance" policy is emblematic of other cruel "them vs. us" rhetoric, and worse, their actions.

Thankfully throughout the cruelty, Jacob Soboroff, keeps this issue in the crowded headlines. I appreciated how he captured the true stories of those affected (e,g., Juan and his son Jose).

I am hopeful that our institutions are trying to hold despite incredible pressure from the Executive branch. Asylum is legal but has been criminalized as indicative of the excerpts below,

Quoting case law, Judge Sabraw, a George W. Bush appointee, declared that a “practice of this sort implemented in this way is likely to be ‘so egregious, so outrageous, that it may fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience,’ interferes with rights ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,’ and is so ‘brutal’ and...

United States on Nov 15, 2020

SArmst2547: After WW II, orphans and discarded or separated children flooded across Europe. It led London psychoanalyst John Bowlby to write three books on child-parent separations. His studies became the psychological basis of UNHCR and the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States subscribed to.

Until this episode in our history.

This is a brilliant book that illuminates how the United States government under Trump, Jeff Sessions, and an anti-immigrant philosophy managed to slip Hispanic child-parent separations past the (unconcerned? uninformed? indifferent?) American public.

The internment of Japanese Americans in WW II was bad, illegal, racist, and unconstitutional. Can you believe that this is worse? I think so.

Great book, well written, and a pointed condemnation of our public policy of deliberately making children orphans of asylum seekers.

United States on Aug 19, 2020

MC: The truth is that this is a difficult story to read. That is because it is the story of how the Trump administration tortured parents and their children by separating, caging and then incarcerating them in separate states solely to deter humans from other countries from seeking asylum. They even separated children under 5 years of age from their parents and kept the parents in the dark so they did not know if they would ever see their child again.

Mixed in with the monsters promoting and implementing this policy were a few heroes who fought to prevent it or at least mitigate the damage, including the attorney’s and the judge who forced the reunification.

The author did a great job detailing each step, or misstep, and bringing it all alive by following a father and son who went to hell and back.

It is a story that had to be told but it will not matter if there is no one interested enough to listen. It is a maddening but ultimately rewarding read.

Well documented, well paced, well written.

United States on Aug 05, 2020

Barbara Tomik: Well written, lots of details that I did not previously glean from cable news shows. Jacob is someone who we will be seeing lots of in the future

Canada on Jul 11, 2020