US department failed to manage ‘zero tolerance’ border policy – report

David Xol-Cholom, of Guatemala, hugs his son Byron at Los Angeles International Airport as they reunite after being separated during the Trump administration’s wide-scale separation of immigrant families (Ringo HW Chiu/AP)

US Justice Department leaders under President Donald Trump knew their 2018 “zero tolerance” border policy would result in family separations but pressed on with prosecutions even as other agencies became overwhelmed with migrants, a government watchdog report has suggested.

The report from the inspector general for the Justice Department found that leadership failed to prepare to implement the policy or manage the fallout, which resulted in more than 3,000 family separations and caused lasting emotional damage to children who were taken from their parents at the border.