Thread by @ReichlinMelnick

The @DHSOIG concluded that ICE and DHS officials repeatedly lied to Congress and the public about whether parents had voluntarily chosen to leave their children behind, insisting that every deportation was thoroughly documented.

In reality, ICE had no consistent system at all.

This is the second time since October that @DHSOIG concluded that Kirstjen Nielsen misled the public.

In October, OIG disclosed that she signed a memo limiting asylum capacity at ports of entry then stood at the White House podium and denied that asylum seekers were turned away.

OIG finds that ICE had no standard policy for deporting parents when Zero Tolerance began, so one ICE field office "typically removed parents without asking if they wanted to be joined by their children."

ICE and DHS leadership told Congress this never happened. That was wrong.

The @DHSOIG finds that "at least 348 separated parents" were deported without being asked if they wanted to reunify with their child (to be precise, "ICE has no records" for the 348), and some parents who said they wanted to reunify were deported anyway.

Crimes against humanity.

Here @DHSOIG provides three cases of fathers who affirmatively told @ICEgov they wanted to reunify with their children before being deported.

ICE documented each request and then deported the parents anyway—and Kirstjen Nielsen later claimed to Congress it could never happen.

On top of the 348 parents deported with no evidence of being asked about reunification, OIG identified an additional 149 parents who supposedly signed documents accepting deportation without reunification—but the documentation is so sketchy OIG implies it's not trustworthy.

After you've gotten to the bottom of this thread, now read the full list of statements that the @DHSOIG notes Trump's DHS officials made to the public and under oath to Congress.

Nielsen and Acting ICE Director Albence's claims about ICE's reunification process were fictional.