The traumas that lie beyond the border

“If you smuggle an illegal alien across the border, then we’ll prosecute you for smuggling. If you’re smuggling a child, then we’re going to prosecute you.”

In June 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a loud message to the 300,000 immigrants who are apprehended at the U.S border each year.

But to those fleeing their homes in Central America, the equation was not as simple. Many had been on the road for months in a desperate bid to escape gang violence and threats of extortion.

The majority of immigrants attempting to cross the southwest U.S border come from Central America's Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala —where violence is rampant. In 2016, both El Salvador and Honduras were among the top five countries with the highest violent death rates in the world.

In early June, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a sweeping statement that had the potential to overhaul asylum policy. He declared that “generally”, people fleeing violence from non-governmental sources – such as victims of domestic and gang related violence – shouldn’t be granted asylum protections.

Immigrants navigating the treacherous routes are often seized at the border town of McAllen, Texas. Having travelled for weeks in scorching temperatures, they seek out Border Patrol officials to turn themselves in. With little means of obtaining information, many are unaware of the Attorney General’s changes to the U.S. asylum policy – and the consequences it holds for their families.

Under the Trump administration’s hard line on immigration, all illegal immigrants face criminal prosecution. Adults are detained in Federal prisons deemed unsuitable to hold children – forcing them apart. Before Trump’s U-turn on family separation, children travelling with their families were often sent to detention centres, their locations often unknown to their families.

Trump has waved the white flag with the reversal of Zero Tolerance’s family separation clauses, but has so far failed to meet a court-ordered July 26 deadline to reunite migrant families.

The system for reuniting families remains opaque. More than 300 migrant children remain separated from their parents - including cases involving parents that are no longer in the U.S after initial separation.

For more on family seperation at the U.S. border, watch Dateline's Trump's Zero Tolerance'