The ACLU claims Trump administration is using loopholes to continue to separate migrant children from their parents

Lawyers for the ACLU alleged in court on Tuesday that the Trump administration has been using a legal loophole in order to justify the continued separation of over 900 migrant children from their parents in the past year.

In June 2018, a court order required the government to curb its child separation policy except in situations where "the adults pose a risk to the child because of their criminal record, a communicable disease, abuse, or neglect," The Washington Post reports. But on Tuesday, the ACLU claimed that children have been separated from their parents for extremely minor offenses, including a parent having an outstanding destruction of property warrant of an alleged $5 in damage, or a traffic violation.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.