Report: Agencies blindsided by Trump immigration order

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration and health officials were blindsided by President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy on migrants crossing the southwest border, triggering a cascade of problems as agencies struggled with the fallout from family separations, congressional investigators said in a critical report issued today.

The investigation by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office dissects the consequences of launching a major policy change without consulting with the agencies that have to carry it out. The report makes no recommendations as it reconstructs a turbulent episode for the Trump administration.

With the White House considering tougher immigration measures as a caravan of migrants slowly heads north from Central America, the GAO report stands as a cautionary tale.

"Officials told us that the agencies did not take specific planning steps because they did not have advance notice," the GAO found. "Officials we interviewed stated that they became aware of the April 2018 ('zero-tolerance') memo when it was announced publicly."

On April 6, Trump issued an executive order directing an end to "catch and release" at the border, a practice whereby migrants could be admitted into the country temporarily while their immigration claims were pending.

That day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal prosecutors to adopt a "zero tolerance policy" for border crossers. Parents placed into criminal custody could not keep their children with them, so families were split.

The report focuses on Homeland Security agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, along with the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, which traditionally has had responsibility for providing shelter for unaccompanied minors detained at the border.

The HHS agency had a far different task this time because the children were deemed "unaccompanied minors" after the government had separated them from their parents. Previously the refugee office was used to dealing with minors who arrived at the border alone. There was another important difference: Many children who were separated from their parents were considerably younger than the teens and pre-teens ORR normally attended to.