Thread by @voxdotcom

1/ Having trouble wrapping your head around family separations at the border?

Here’s some context on how families end up in this situation:

2/ It begins with asylum seekers from deadly nations like Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador taking a dangerous journey to the US-Mexico border. bit.ly/2JZyaQk

3/ To get into the US, they could go to a port of entry (like a border checkpoint) and claim asylum, which is legal.

But those ports can’t process asylum seekers quickly and that border officials sometimes refuse them.

4/ So instead, many opt to cross the border between ports of entry, which is a federal misdemeanor.

Border Patrol stops them and asks if they fear persecution in their home country. If the answer is yes, they wait to see a judge.

5/ (The US has to keep asylum seekers because federal and international law says they can’t deport people back to places where they would face danger).

6/ Before the Trump admin’s new policy, families would wait for asylum proceedings together.

Some were released and given a date to come back, AKA “catch-and-release,” which Trump has vowed to end.

7/ But now, some parents are being prosecuted for the illegal crossing — and separated from their kids in the process.

8/ After serving time in jail, parents try to reunite with their children, but there’s no process to help make this happen.

And they don’t have phone access in detention centers, so it’s taken some months to find their kids.

9/ So how is the Trump admin justifying this?

They can’t get their story straight. As @mattyglesias pointed out: “[The] White House has now offered three conflicting reasons … It’s a deterrent. It’s Democrats’ fault. It’s not even a real policy at all.” bit.ly/2ME7qqd

10/10 Whatever the reason, the reality is that this new strategy involves taking children away from their parents without a process for reuniting them.

Read more from @alv9n: bit.ly/2JZyaQk