Quiet Cruelty: Immigrant Children Torn from Foster Homes in Renewed Family Separation Tactics

El Periodico USA Staff February 19, 2024

In a disturbing resurgence of family separation policies, the U.S. government has begun removing immigrant children—some as young as a few months old—from their foster homes and placing them back into federal detention centers. This quiet campaign, unfolding far from the border in towns and cities across the United States, has already impacted at least 500 children in recent months, according to advocates and legal filings.

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Unlike the widely condemned separation policy of 2018, which drew national and international outrage, this new wave is stealthier, operating through bureaucratic channels and often out of public view. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents—sometimes in plain clothes—have reportedly entered homes, visited schools, and questioned minors directly. If any immigration concern surfaces, the child is taken.

Many of these children had previously been placed with vetted foster families or sponsors and were living in stable, loving environments. They are not accused of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, they are being ripped from homes and thrown into detention facilities—cold, sterile places not designed for young or traumatized children.

It’s a betrayal of everything child welfare is supposed to stand for. These kids are not just numbers. They’ve already experienced trauma, and now they’re being retraumatized by the very system that was supposed to protect them.

The children come from various backgrounds—some fleeing violence, others abandoned, orphaned, or sent by their parents to have a better life. They’ve formed attachments with foster parents, bonded with siblings, and begun to heal. For many, being torn away from that stability feels like being punished all over again.

“There was no warning. Just a knock on the door, and suddenly they were taking her,” said an unnamed foster father, whose 11-year-old foster daughter was removed in May. “She kept asking, ‘What did I do wrong?’”

Legal experts warn this is a revival of family separation by another name. Rather than chaotic scenes at border facilities, today’s removals are cloaked in procedure—executed under administrative review, foster care audits, or immigration status checks. And because it’s happening far from media attention, the public outcry has been muted.

It’s strategic. They learned from 2018. Keep it quiet. Keep it complicated. That way, people don’t protest.

Some cases involve infants—babies brought here at a very young age. Others involve school-age children who were finally thriving. These children, without criminal records or any say in their legal status, are being treated as threats simply for existing in the country without documentation.

Advocates are calling for immediate policy reversals and a full investigation. Civil rights groups have begun filing lawsuits, citing violations of due process and human rights.

In the meantime, families are left grieving the loss of children they’ve raised and loved as their own. Children are left to wonder why they were taken from safety and returned to trauma.

It’s not enforcement. It’s cruelty with a clipboard.

If you or someone you know is impacted by immigration enforcement or family separation, resources are available: