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Separated: Inside an American Tragedy
NBC News and MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff, winner of the 2019 Walter Cronkite Award for his reporting on the child separation crisis, delivers a profoundly personal and moving report from the border and beyond, revealing the wrenching human story behind one of the most disturbing passages of modern American history.
Donald Trump’s most infamous decision as president, to systematically separate thousands of migrant families at the border, was in effect for months before most Americans saw the living conditions of the children in custody at the epicenter of the policy. NBC News and MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff was among the first national television journalists to expose the truth of what their lives were like on the inside after seeing them firsthand. His widely shared reports in June 2018 ignited public scrutiny that contributed to the President reversing his own policy by Executive Order, and earned Soboroff the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Broadcast Journalism and the 2019 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism.
In Separated, Soboroff weaves together his own experience unexpectedly covering this national issue with other key figures in the drama he met along the way, including feuding administration officials responsible for tearing apart and then reuniting families, and the parents and children who were caught in the middle. He reveals new and exclusive details of how the policy was carried out, and how its affects are still being felt.
Today, there is still not a full accounting of the total number of children the President ripped away from their parents. The exact number may never be known, only that it is in the thousands. Now the President is doubling down on draconian immigration policies, including threatening to hold migrant families indefinitely and making tens of thousands applying for asylum wait in some of Mexico’s most dangerous cities. Separated is required reading for anyone who wants to understand how Trump and his administration were able to carry out this inhumane policy, and how so many missed what was happening before it was too late. Soboroff lays out compassionately, yet in the starkest of terms, its human toll, and makes clear what is at stake in the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump’s most infamous decision as president, to systematically separate thousands of migrant families at the border, was in effect for months before most Americans saw the living conditions of the children in custody at the epicenter of the policy. NBC News and MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff was among the first national television journalists to expose the truth of what their lives were like on the inside after seeing them firsthand. His widely shared reports in June 2018 ignited public scrutiny that contributed to the President reversing his own policy by Executive Order, and earned Soboroff the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Broadcast Journalism and the 2019 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism.
In Separated, Soboroff weaves together his own experience unexpectedly covering this national issue with other key figures in the drama he met along the way, including feuding administration officials responsible for tearing apart and then reuniting families, and the parents and children who were caught in the middle. He reveals new and exclusive details of how the policy was carried out, and how its affects are still being felt.
Today, there is still not a full accounting of the total number of children the President ripped away from their parents. The exact number may never be known, only that it is in the thousands. Now the President is doubling down on draconian immigration policies, including threatening to hold migrant families indefinitely and making tens of thousands applying for asylum wait in some of Mexico’s most dangerous cities. Separated is required reading for anyone who wants to understand how Trump and his administration were able to carry out this inhumane policy, and how so many missed what was happening before it was too late. Soboroff lays out compassionately, yet in the starkest of terms, its human toll, and makes clear what is at stake in the 2020 presidential election.
11 pages, Audible Audio
First published July 7, 2020
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July 10, 2025
There is a one star review for this book. It seems to be unwarranted low marking by someone with an agenda. Look past that and you see an awarded investigative journalist doing what everyone else has forgotten - the kids in cages at the border
July 11, 2020
Audiobook.... read by the author, Jacob Soboroff
Jacob is an award-winning NBC news and MSNBC correspondent.
“In June 2018, Donald Trump‘s most notorious decision as president had secretly been in effect for months before most Americans became aware of the astonishing inhumanity being perpetrated by their own government. Jacob Soboroff was among the first journalists to expose this reality after seeing firsthand the living conditions of the children in custody. His influential series of reports ignited public scrutiny that contributed to the president reversing his own policy and earned Soboroff the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Broadcast Journalism and, with his colleagues, the 2019 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism”.
CAGES....A HELL HOLE.....CAGES..... FILTHY DIRTY CONDITIONS....
.....CAGES!!!!
NO ATTORNEYS....NO PHONES...HORRENDOUS FOOD....CAGES!!!
Jose Alvizures arrived in Calexico, California, on Friday, 324 days after being separated from his 10 year old son, Ervin.....nearly 11 months apart.
Father and son crossed the border to seek asylum after getting death threats from gangs that controlled his town.
With separation information not being recorded....(which child belonged to which set of parents) — it was an added nightmare of re-connecting them back together. A HORRIFIC NIGHTMARE!
At the border in Texas, Arizona, and California- and inside those filthy disgusting detention facilities- MAKES IT CLEAR of who NOT to vote for in 2020!
So.....if you suspect righteous indignation from me - you’re damn right!
The US border patrol was holding many children who were too young to take care of themselves, in jail-like border facilities for weeks at a time. They had no contact with any family member. Absolutely sickening!!!
Many of the kids were sick. All were scared, confused, traumatized! The conditions were inhuman.
Under Trump’s Immigration Policy —The United States government separated around 2000 children from their families in 2018.
Jacob went down to the border - lived in grueling conditions. Covering this story was the greatest Human-Rights catastrophe of his lifetime.
He exposes the most horrific injustice-
“Separated” is well documented - a haunting Trump-driven-government administration failure - a moral travesty!
It’s hard to read this and not feel the outrage. Such cruelty!
Trump was showing his ‘lower-than-low’ colors before ignoring the seriousness of the coronavirus.
There were people who spent their lives dedicated to reuniting families who had been separated by immigration. Jacob was one of them.
Bless you Jacob ( and for this book), and all other people who fought to re-unite families back together.
This is a devastating story!!!!!
NOTE....it’s written by a journalist— so if you choose to read it - don’t expect lyrical prose.
Jacob is an award-winning NBC news and MSNBC correspondent.
“In June 2018, Donald Trump‘s most notorious decision as president had secretly been in effect for months before most Americans became aware of the astonishing inhumanity being perpetrated by their own government. Jacob Soboroff was among the first journalists to expose this reality after seeing firsthand the living conditions of the children in custody. His influential series of reports ignited public scrutiny that contributed to the president reversing his own policy and earned Soboroff the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Broadcast Journalism and, with his colleagues, the 2019 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism”.
CAGES....A HELL HOLE.....CAGES..... FILTHY DIRTY CONDITIONS....
.....CAGES!!!!
NO ATTORNEYS....NO PHONES...HORRENDOUS FOOD....CAGES!!!
Jose Alvizures arrived in Calexico, California, on Friday, 324 days after being separated from his 10 year old son, Ervin.....nearly 11 months apart.
Father and son crossed the border to seek asylum after getting death threats from gangs that controlled his town.
With separation information not being recorded....(which child belonged to which set of parents) — it was an added nightmare of re-connecting them back together. A HORRIFIC NIGHTMARE!
At the border in Texas, Arizona, and California- and inside those filthy disgusting detention facilities- MAKES IT CLEAR of who NOT to vote for in 2020!
So.....if you suspect righteous indignation from me - you’re damn right!
The US border patrol was holding many children who were too young to take care of themselves, in jail-like border facilities for weeks at a time. They had no contact with any family member. Absolutely sickening!!!
Many of the kids were sick. All were scared, confused, traumatized! The conditions were inhuman.
Under Trump’s Immigration Policy —The United States government separated around 2000 children from their families in 2018.
Jacob went down to the border - lived in grueling conditions. Covering this story was the greatest Human-Rights catastrophe of his lifetime.
He exposes the most horrific injustice-
“Separated” is well documented - a haunting Trump-driven-government administration failure - a moral travesty!
It’s hard to read this and not feel the outrage. Such cruelty!
Trump was showing his ‘lower-than-low’ colors before ignoring the seriousness of the coronavirus.
There were people who spent their lives dedicated to reuniting families who had been separated by immigration. Jacob was one of them.
Bless you Jacob ( and for this book), and all other people who fought to re-unite families back together.
This is a devastating story!!!!!
NOTE....it’s written by a journalist— so if you choose to read it - don’t expect lyrical prose.
August 11, 2020
A little more than two years ago, in June 2018, Trump pledged to stop separating families in the detention centers set up to discourage migrants from leaving their native country, seeking asylum in the United States. A country that became the United States when groups of people from other countries, being denied the liberties that all should be entitled to, came to this new – to them – land. A land already populated by other people who had lived here for generations, which seems to elude some people, since they have fared little better in many places, than these people – many coming here when their lives were threatened – who were incarcerated for wanting to live in a safe environment.
Two years have passed since then Trump still has done little to act on this pledge, and family separations continue. I have been thinking about this even more since COVID-19 has become our new “normal,” and wondered about the status. As of about two weeks ago, more than 3,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths have been counted among those detained - within a relatively small population compared to an actual state . While some “medically vulnerable” detainees have been released, and a judge ordered the release of more than a hundred children, none have been released as of the 27th of July, and the agency refused to allow the release of the families together.
A complete and utterly chaotic, muddled and mismanaged situation created by one incompetent person in charge who hired other incompetent people so he could blame them when they did what he wanted. A man whose talents lie in one thing, his ability to repeatedly say: “You’re fired.”
Since this was documented, and then written followed with time for editing and publishing, this doesn’t cover the way that COVID-19 has affected these people incarcerated in cages with little sanitation available when he was able to visit and document these places. His description of these detention centers when he was visiting, though, is sufficiently haunting, and I doubt much has changed.
If it hadn’t been for those investigators reporting on these horror stories before COVID, it would be so much worse, since Customs and Border Patrol originally planned to separate “more than 26,000 children between May and September 2018” (which Had they succeeded, had there been no investigations, I don’t want to imagine… especially since those involved in handling these families are the ones now involved (who weren’t fired to distract) in this country’s response to COVID-19. God help us. Please.
An excellent, if chilling, reporting of a horrific policy ordered by, and supported by Trump by NBC News / MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff.
Many thanks, once again, to the Public Library system, and the many Librarians that manage, organize and keep it running, for the loan of this book!
Two years have passed since then Trump still has done little to act on this pledge, and family separations continue. I have been thinking about this even more since COVID-19 has become our new “normal,” and wondered about the status. As of about two weeks ago, more than 3,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three deaths have been counted among those detained - within a relatively small population compared to an actual state . While some “medically vulnerable” detainees have been released, and a judge ordered the release of more than a hundred children, none have been released as of the 27th of July, and the agency refused to allow the release of the families together.
A complete and utterly chaotic, muddled and mismanaged situation created by one incompetent person in charge who hired other incompetent people so he could blame them when they did what he wanted. A man whose talents lie in one thing, his ability to repeatedly say: “You’re fired.”
Since this was documented, and then written followed with time for editing and publishing, this doesn’t cover the way that COVID-19 has affected these people incarcerated in cages with little sanitation available when he was able to visit and document these places. His description of these detention centers when he was visiting, though, is sufficiently haunting, and I doubt much has changed.
If it hadn’t been for those investigators reporting on these horror stories before COVID, it would be so much worse, since Customs and Border Patrol originally planned to separate “more than 26,000 children between May and September 2018” (which Had they succeeded, had there been no investigations, I don’t want to imagine… especially since those involved in handling these families are the ones now involved (who weren’t fired to distract) in this country’s response to COVID-19. God help us. Please.
An excellent, if chilling, reporting of a horrific policy ordered by, and supported by Trump by NBC News / MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff.
Many thanks, once again, to the Public Library system, and the many Librarians that manage, organize and keep it running, for the loan of this book!
July 15, 2020
Bleeding Hearts
Usually, I have an idea of what I am going to say about a book, but this time I am at a loss for words, so I thought that I would just sit here and try to write.
I remember when it first came to light that Trump was separating mothers and fathers from their children, and I mentioned it to my Republican friend, not knowing what she would say, but also expecting that because shew as a mother, she would understand my feelings for the children. Instead, she said, “Obama did it, and no one complained then.” I changed the subject, after all I had known her since I was 8 years old. I then began to notice that Republica ns just didn’t care, not even those women who had lost their own children due to deaths at a young age. What happened to some people’s empathy? Did they never have any in the first place? I remember reading in the book “Behave,” that Republican’s bran waves are rule by fear, Democrats by empathy. Is that it, we are wired differently? Partly so, but these Republicans care for their children, they love them. But what a shock it is when you expect a certain kind of response from someone, and they show no feelings. Maybe this is why I am having a hard time writing about this book.
The author, a journalist for NBC, spent time at the border, investigating. He has done an excellent job. The first thing I learned is that Obama did not separate children from their parents, not unless their parents were abusive or criminals. Yet, he deported more Hispanics than Bush or Clinton. There is proof of this, but some people don’t believe in proof. In this, Trump has done his job, the same job that Hitler had done when he was in power, make people not believe in the press. And even this is hard for me to imagine when he will lie one minute and then change his view, which still ends up being a lie. Trump denied separating children from their parents. His supporters said that the photos of children in cages were old photos from the Obama era. What more can I say? To have such people in my life, ones that have no empathy, is not easy. I dropped all but the one. I talk to her very little.
The author does a great job, and it is well wroth the read even if you have followed the news, because this is more of a behind the scenes. Trump’s daughter and wife were against this practice and told him so. He rolled his eyes. It appears that it was public outcry that changed his mind, when I thought that the corst hads ruled against it, so he quit. So, then the author says that he can change his mind again at any time. Now they wait in Mexico to come over, and they are sometimes raped, robbed, and so on. Some he sent back to Guatemala where they are sure to be killed.
Usually, I have an idea of what I am going to say about a book, but this time I am at a loss for words, so I thought that I would just sit here and try to write.
I remember when it first came to light that Trump was separating mothers and fathers from their children, and I mentioned it to my Republican friend, not knowing what she would say, but also expecting that because shew as a mother, she would understand my feelings for the children. Instead, she said, “Obama did it, and no one complained then.” I changed the subject, after all I had known her since I was 8 years old. I then began to notice that Republica ns just didn’t care, not even those women who had lost their own children due to deaths at a young age. What happened to some people’s empathy? Did they never have any in the first place? I remember reading in the book “Behave,” that Republican’s bran waves are rule by fear, Democrats by empathy. Is that it, we are wired differently? Partly so, but these Republicans care for their children, they love them. But what a shock it is when you expect a certain kind of response from someone, and they show no feelings. Maybe this is why I am having a hard time writing about this book.
The author, a journalist for NBC, spent time at the border, investigating. He has done an excellent job. The first thing I learned is that Obama did not separate children from their parents, not unless their parents were abusive or criminals. Yet, he deported more Hispanics than Bush or Clinton. There is proof of this, but some people don’t believe in proof. In this, Trump has done his job, the same job that Hitler had done when he was in power, make people not believe in the press. And even this is hard for me to imagine when he will lie one minute and then change his view, which still ends up being a lie. Trump denied separating children from their parents. His supporters said that the photos of children in cages were old photos from the Obama era. What more can I say? To have such people in my life, ones that have no empathy, is not easy. I dropped all but the one. I talk to her very little.
The author does a great job, and it is well wroth the read even if you have followed the news, because this is more of a behind the scenes. Trump’s daughter and wife were against this practice and told him so. He rolled his eyes. It appears that it was public outcry that changed his mind, when I thought that the corst hads ruled against it, so he quit. So, then the author says that he can change his mind again at any time. Now they wait in Mexico to come over, and they are sometimes raped, robbed, and so on. Some he sent back to Guatemala where they are sure to be killed.
July 19, 2020
I feel a little bad at rating this 3 stars because the subject matter is important and there’s a lot that’s good in this book. My issues with the book are generally related to the writing/delivery not content.
How do you write an entire book about family separation and not make it crystal clear that it is not not against the law to enter the country to declare asylum? The fact that Zero Tolerance declared it criminally illegal to enter the country to declare asylum is a very important departure from all precedent, international treaties, and American law. The author clearly condemns Zero Tolerance but muddies the message by analyzing the roots of family separation under Obama. He also routinely refers to asylum seekers as migrants, which are not all interchangeable.
In addition, the sexual assault and abortion controversies are referred to obliquely and in passing which is weird because he helped break those stories. He spends a few pages on going to Greenland in order to pivot to climate change’s impact on migration but that’s a separate story from asylum seekers fleeing rape, violence, kidnapping, etc.
He also makes no mention of then Attorney General Sessions reversing US policy that recognized oppression due to sexual orientation as a valid credible fear criteria.
So worth the read but definitely missed some important angles in this awful chapter in US history.
How do you write an entire book about family separation and not make it crystal clear that it is not not against the law to enter the country to declare asylum? The fact that Zero Tolerance declared it criminally illegal to enter the country to declare asylum is a very important departure from all precedent, international treaties, and American law. The author clearly condemns Zero Tolerance but muddies the message by analyzing the roots of family separation under Obama. He also routinely refers to asylum seekers as migrants, which are not all interchangeable.
In addition, the sexual assault and abortion controversies are referred to obliquely and in passing which is weird because he helped break those stories. He spends a few pages on going to Greenland in order to pivot to climate change’s impact on migration but that’s a separate story from asylum seekers fleeing rape, violence, kidnapping, etc.
He also makes no mention of then Attorney General Sessions reversing US policy that recognized oppression due to sexual orientation as a valid credible fear criteria.
So worth the read but definitely missed some important angles in this awful chapter in US history.
March 2, 2021
Half of the book details the family separation policy itself, its development and justifications and the communications about it between government officials (and yet in not enough detail or quantity), and half of the book is NBC/MSNBC correspondent Soboroff dwelling on his own media coverage of the policy: putting in an earpiece before going on Chris Hayes's show, flying here and there, stopping to buy pomegranates from a streetside vendor, hearing a lighting panel fall during an interview with Kirstjen Nielsen. He lets us know every time he is able to fly home to be with his toddler son, to remind us that the parents separated from their children are unable to do so. There's too much navel-gazing. A more rigorous, in-depth book on the topic is needed. This one doesn't even have an index.
It feels hastily assembled. Too many uses of the overformal "amongst." Bad grammar ("...the crew watched LeNoir and I talk..."). You get ahold of something, not a hold of something. He doesn't seem to like the word neither: "HHS nor ACF would issue an official statement..." Apparently there wasn't even time for a spell check:
discretely for discreetly
separtions for separations
runification for reunification
legaly for legally
wtih for with
And my favorite, "Noah Oppenheim welcomed me to the network with open arams."
July 23, 2020
This title is pitched as a deep dive into the Trump administration's draconian policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern U.S. border, but it's instead somewhat narrowly focused on author Jacob Soboroff's personal experiences investigating that story, including tedious descriptions of his every research step and fawning quotes from his journalistic peers. There are also wide swaths of relevant background information on immigration and asylum that are not provided, rendering the project less of a definitive reference text and more of a meandering memoir that only occasionally educates along the way. The writer's heart is in the right place and I value his reporting on the subject elsewhere, but this book is fairly unnecessary.
(The audiobook is also pretty bad, with endnotes divorced from their context and interstitial document excerpts only identified at the end of their quotes. It's a production that opts to read through the printed version cover to cover, rather than considering how formatting should be adapted for the spoken medium. My rating reflects the written content and not these editing choices, but they were frustrating enough to raise in this review.)
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(The audiobook is also pretty bad, with endnotes divorced from their context and interstitial document excerpts only identified at the end of their quotes. It's a production that opts to read through the printed version cover to cover, rather than considering how formatting should be adapted for the spoken medium. My rating reflects the written content and not these editing choices, but they were frustrating enough to raise in this review.)
--Subscribe at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke to support these reviews and weigh in on what I read next!--
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter
July 25, 2020
If you think you know what twisted reasoning and actions led our government to kidnap, imprison, separate parents from children, lie to and cheat asylum-seekers at our southern border - trust me, you don't. After you read this book, both objective and personal (because what human being wouldn't get physically ill, suffer migraines, and long to comfort himself at home with his own wife and little boy), you will know as much as one reporter, backed with reams of evidence and the observations of others, can report.
And it's not over, neither the lies nor the actions.
Beautifully written, without an extraneous or sentimentalized sentence. Keep going, Mr. Soboroff. We need you.
And it's not over, neither the lies nor the actions.
Beautifully written, without an extraneous or sentimentalized sentence. Keep going, Mr. Soboroff. We need you.
July 17, 2020
This should have never happened.... heartbreaking....Trump and the people who surround him lack civil order and are profoundly wicked!
July 12, 2020
The Trump policy of separating children from parents will certainly put this country in the history books in much the same way that Jackson’s “Trail of Tears” ,and Executive Order 9066 that ordered the Japanese into internment camps has- policies that certainly qualify as “crimes against humanity.” While we will never be able to erase our responsibility, we certainly have a moral obligation to see that all families are united and to provide all the medical and psychological assistance necessary to assist the damage that we’ve done to every victim. The author’s account can, at points, be a bit dry but, certainly provides what appears as a thorough picture of those who bare immediate culpability for implementing the evolving policy and implementation along with the conditions faced by victims and their impact. To say I found myself emotional at the horrors that were implemented in the name of all Americans is an understatement!
August 16, 2020
I didn’t finish the book, but I’m finished with it. I found it difficult to read, not because of the sad content, but the writer seemed to be all over the place. He said was following 4 different families, but one one appeared early on, and then nothing. Just a chronological account of what Trump’s administration did with regard to immigration and the border wall. I found it to be downright boring.
Read
October 2, 2020Gave up on this one at the 29% mark. People are waiting at the library; let them have it. Too much about the exciting life of a TV news reporter and not enough about the policy disaster of family separation.
November 15, 2020
This book is a very disturbing but important look at one of the Trump administration's most notorious atrocities. While the quality of the writing isn't always perfect (Soboroff describes himself as more of a TV guy), it goes through the timeline of events in painstaking detail as the policy changes result in bad and worse outcomes due to cruelty and incompetence. Soboroff begins his chapters with official legal document excerpts that lay out the horrors in matter-of-fact language, which somehow brings the point home with force even in its understatement.
History will not look kindly on this era in American history.
History will not look kindly on this era in American history.
August 14, 2020
I have to explain my rating. The book was well written and I expect would have kept many people interested, unfortunately for me it too much about policy and who said or did what. I was hoping for more stories about the families although the stories that were a part of the book were good. Just not the book for me.
December 15, 2020
Originally published on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
Despite finishing Separated by Jacob Soboroff over a week ago, reviewing it is a struggle for me. It’s a complex book, so I worry I won’t do it justice. At the same time, at the center of it is the human ability to be cruel. And in this case children, even babies, suffer along with their parents. As the subtitle says, Soboroff takes us “Inside an American Tragedy.” It’s not easy to summarize and analyze. So, my goal isn’t to retell every event in the book, but to discuss how well Soboroff tells the whole story.
Parents from Central and South America flee their homes for many reasons. Most often because gangs or traffickers dealing in drugs or humans threaten their lives. Naturally, they don’t want to leave their children. So, they travel North together to the U.S. and Mexican border, often paying thousands of dollars for help traversing the distance.
And starting in 2017, the U.S. government separated all of these parents from their children. The basis for this is the criminal charges leveled on refugees coming to the U.S. without a legal visa. Previously, the government only charged them in civil court. Now we level criminal charges, and thus we incarcerate those parents.
Therefore, according to the law, they can’t stay with their children. This means the government now “houses” children in centers around the country, primarily near border cities. And often their parents are deported without them.
What Soboroff does with his reporting and this book is explain what that means in the reality of human lives. He shines a light on government cruelty and incompetence. Also, he digs deeper into the truth despite the government preferring to tell a sanitized, more palatable version.
Quotes that shook me
“The Trump administration was potentially “creating thousands of immigrant orphans,” as a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement put it, by deporting separated parents before they were given a chance to reunite.”
“Since the summer of 2017, the Trump administration has taken at least 5,556 kids from their parents. But still today, nobody knows for sure exactly how many families have been separated. In February 2020, the United States Government Accountability Office noted, “it is unclear the extent to which Border Patrol has accurate records of separated [families] in its data system.” Scarce few of their stories have been told.”
My conclusions
This is the story of our fellow humans—both parents and children. And Soboroff follows a particular father and son in detail throughout the book. It’s also the story of how investigative reporting pulls together a variety of pieces and integrates them into a more complete narrative. Soboroff takes readers behind the news story, including complicated logistics and his own emotional process.
This is also a story of government and law enforcement. Soboroff interviews people in both entities and discusses their decisions and actions. He includes Border Patrol agents and bosses and Office of Refugee Resettlement folks. Whenever possible, he moves all the way up the chain of command to those at the top of the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services.
Soboroff’s writing style is clear and concise. He knows how to organize and explain so these complex issues feel readable. And still, he never shies away from the intense emotions and visible difficulty his subjects experience.
This book may make you angry, sad, shocked, and upset. I’d be worried about myself if I didn’t feel that way while reading it. But it’s a story that must be told, and Soboroff is skilled at that telling.
I recommend Separated: Inside an American Tragedy if you want to wrap your arms around this issue.
But I definitely recommend carefully choosing when you read it and incorporating some self-care in the process. I read this as a buddy read with two friends, and the ability to discuss the issues helped me process them. Your self-care may look different, but don’t neglect the potential emotional impact of this book.
Pair with something lighter. Really, anything that might balance the emotion. Perhaps Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, since it’s a humorous take on kids and family.
Despite finishing Separated by Jacob Soboroff over a week ago, reviewing it is a struggle for me. It’s a complex book, so I worry I won’t do it justice. At the same time, at the center of it is the human ability to be cruel. And in this case children, even babies, suffer along with their parents. As the subtitle says, Soboroff takes us “Inside an American Tragedy.” It’s not easy to summarize and analyze. So, my goal isn’t to retell every event in the book, but to discuss how well Soboroff tells the whole story.
Parents from Central and South America flee their homes for many reasons. Most often because gangs or traffickers dealing in drugs or humans threaten their lives. Naturally, they don’t want to leave their children. So, they travel North together to the U.S. and Mexican border, often paying thousands of dollars for help traversing the distance.
And starting in 2017, the U.S. government separated all of these parents from their children. The basis for this is the criminal charges leveled on refugees coming to the U.S. without a legal visa. Previously, the government only charged them in civil court. Now we level criminal charges, and thus we incarcerate those parents.
Therefore, according to the law, they can’t stay with their children. This means the government now “houses” children in centers around the country, primarily near border cities. And often their parents are deported without them.
What Soboroff does with his reporting and this book is explain what that means in the reality of human lives. He shines a light on government cruelty and incompetence. Also, he digs deeper into the truth despite the government preferring to tell a sanitized, more palatable version.
Quotes that shook me
“The Trump administration was potentially “creating thousands of immigrant orphans,” as a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement put it, by deporting separated parents before they were given a chance to reunite.”
“Since the summer of 2017, the Trump administration has taken at least 5,556 kids from their parents. But still today, nobody knows for sure exactly how many families have been separated. In February 2020, the United States Government Accountability Office noted, “it is unclear the extent to which Border Patrol has accurate records of separated [families] in its data system.” Scarce few of their stories have been told.”
My conclusions
This is the story of our fellow humans—both parents and children. And Soboroff follows a particular father and son in detail throughout the book. It’s also the story of how investigative reporting pulls together a variety of pieces and integrates them into a more complete narrative. Soboroff takes readers behind the news story, including complicated logistics and his own emotional process.
This is also a story of government and law enforcement. Soboroff interviews people in both entities and discusses their decisions and actions. He includes Border Patrol agents and bosses and Office of Refugee Resettlement folks. Whenever possible, he moves all the way up the chain of command to those at the top of the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services.
Soboroff’s writing style is clear and concise. He knows how to organize and explain so these complex issues feel readable. And still, he never shies away from the intense emotions and visible difficulty his subjects experience.
This book may make you angry, sad, shocked, and upset. I’d be worried about myself if I didn’t feel that way while reading it. But it’s a story that must be told, and Soboroff is skilled at that telling.
I recommend Separated: Inside an American Tragedy if you want to wrap your arms around this issue.
But I definitely recommend carefully choosing when you read it and incorporating some self-care in the process. I read this as a buddy read with two friends, and the ability to discuss the issues helped me process them. Your self-care may look different, but don’t neglect the potential emotional impact of this book.
Pair with something lighter. Really, anything that might balance the emotion. Perhaps Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, since it’s a humorous take on kids and family.
October 7, 2020
A work of moral and historical importance, Soboroff details the willful incompetence of the American government, and creates a useful timeline of source material for future historians. Soboroff is laser-focused. For instance, he doesn't address the U. S. military policies which have contributed to the destabilization of many countries in Central America, which have only exacerbated the problem of cartels, weak governmental control, and a flow of refugees. He does briefly address Climate Change as a surprising catalyst for creating refugees, but for nearly the entirety of the book, he focuses on the specific people who either sought a policy of deterrence, via punitive familial separation, or sought to subvert the acceleration of the program.
Soboroff names names. And we should all learn them.
First, my list of some of those who actively pushed for/justified family separation as a deterrent to migration, without regard to asylum credibility:
Scott Lloyd
John Kelly
Chad Wolf
Kirstjen Nielsen
Katie Waldman (now Miller)
Matthew Albence
Jeff Sessions
Chris Meekins
Next, my list of some of those who immediately realized the problems of increasing family separations. There had always been some family separations, but this was a calculated increase, driving towards a zero tolerance policy, even for asylum seekers. Not only was ORR not ready for such a huge influx, but these folks recognized that this would only inflict unnecessary trauma and not act as a deterrence at all:
Commander Jonathan White
Lee Gelernt
Jim DeLaCruz
Claire Tricker McNulty
Jallyn Sualog
Lindsay Toczylowski
Dr Colleen Kraft
Andrew Lorenzen-Strait
Judge Dana Sabraw
I went into this book, thinking it would make me cry. And I still wince at the idea of "tender aged" detainees, but mostly, I was angry. Very very angry. I'm grateful for journalists who keep us informed and even effect changes with their intense relentless pursuit to uncover covert actions.
Soboroff names names. And we should all learn them.
First, my list of some of those who actively pushed for/justified family separation as a deterrent to migration, without regard to asylum credibility:
Scott Lloyd
John Kelly
Chad Wolf
Kirstjen Nielsen
Katie Waldman (now Miller)
Matthew Albence
Jeff Sessions
Chris Meekins
Next, my list of some of those who immediately realized the problems of increasing family separations. There had always been some family separations, but this was a calculated increase, driving towards a zero tolerance policy, even for asylum seekers. Not only was ORR not ready for such a huge influx, but these folks recognized that this would only inflict unnecessary trauma and not act as a deterrence at all:
Commander Jonathan White
Lee Gelernt
Jim DeLaCruz
Claire Tricker McNulty
Jallyn Sualog
Lindsay Toczylowski
Dr Colleen Kraft
Andrew Lorenzen-Strait
Judge Dana Sabraw
I went into this book, thinking it would make me cry. And I still wince at the idea of "tender aged" detainees, but mostly, I was angry. Very very angry. I'm grateful for journalists who keep us informed and even effect changes with their intense relentless pursuit to uncover covert actions.
August 27, 2020
A phrase from this book, "The Greatest Human-Rights Catastrophe of My Lifetime," says it all. The author goes into great detail about the history of immigration during the Obama era and into Trump's presidency. His research and visits to the sites where children were detained, some even under the age of five, was eye-opening and frankly, difficult to read. Most difficult was learning that no records were kept and parents were often moved hundreds of miles away from their children.
My emotions jumped from anger to sadness to anger while reading this horrendous account of the way in which children were taken from their parents and locked up, all in order to prevent more immigrants from entering the U.S. The families came into the U.S. hoping for a better life, but ended up as prisoners, through no fault of their own. The whole plan was a disaster from start to finish.
The story of the reunification between Juan, a Guatemalan father, and his son, Jose, was a high point of the book, but knowing there are still separated families due to a lack of recordkeeping is shameful. The trauma that these families are, and will, experience in the future is horrendous.
Separated is an important book that will resonate with all Americans.
My emotions jumped from anger to sadness to anger while reading this horrendous account of the way in which children were taken from their parents and locked up, all in order to prevent more immigrants from entering the U.S. The families came into the U.S. hoping for a better life, but ended up as prisoners, through no fault of their own. The whole plan was a disaster from start to finish.
The story of the reunification between Juan, a Guatemalan father, and his son, Jose, was a high point of the book, but knowing there are still separated families due to a lack of recordkeeping is shameful. The trauma that these families are, and will, experience in the future is horrendous.
Separated is an important book that will resonate with all Americans.
January 28, 2022
Did ya'll read the same book?!? I REALLY wanted to like this. I thought it would be a hard-hitting expose of the family separation crisis at the border. But it's the opposite. An extremely pretentious memoir that was all over the place. One minute he's trying to be an insider like Bob Woodward. The next minute he's melodramatically placing himself as the center of attention as if he's angling for Brad Pitt to play him in a movie. It's sad because the issue is very important. America's immigration system is inhumane. The anguished letters from refugee parents begging to see their kids should be the focus of the book. That's the real story.
July 21, 2020
Appalling it happened. Appalling that it continues.
December 23, 2024
No one can tell me the next 4 years will be fine after reading that a 5 year old Guatemalan child who was separated from his aunt and cousin after entering the U.S. "developed suicidal ideation". 5 years old. The 45th president should never be forgiven and in case you want to understand the true tragedy that his child separation policy was, read this book. Incredible writing for something so extremely tragic.
November 27, 2024
I thought I had followed this story fairly closely as it was happening but I’m not sure I was aware of the full extent of the lies, coverups, evil, and cruelty that allowed the family separation policy to be implemented.
September 11, 2020
Depressing but worthwhile read. The heartlessness of the despicable person in the White House who despises people in general but people of color in particular is excruciating to read. The author writes of his first hand experience watching the Trump administration apply its “zero tolerance” policy at the border charging as criminals desperate people fleeing conditions no one should have to put up with in order to find a better life and for daring to seek asylum have their children wrenched from them as punishment for wanting to seek freedom is beyond perverted. And that people are willing to assist in doing speaks to a wanting sense of basic human decency. The author shows the administration’s soullessness and indifference as he traces the separation in general and then through the story of a father and son who came from Central America, were separated but were fortunate to be reunited - though they face the possibility of deportation in the future. As the author writes on page 250 (e-book) when speaking about an angry border patrol staff person who returned the video of the complimentary documentary he was in as “made for TV” clap track”: “If the drama around separation was ‘made for TV,’ it was created by the Trump Administration itself. Katy Waldman, the HHS spokeswoman, told me on multiple occasions that the policy [family separation] was designed to play so shockingly in the media that it would force Congress to end it by passing harsh immigration laws, such as permitting indefinite detention of migrant families and the immediate deportation of unaccompanied Central American minors in its place.” We learn later that Katy Waldman who comes off as grossly inhumane eventually married Steven Miller, the architect of this policy. The current administration is a sick, sorry and sad bunch of losers whose twisted vision of what this county is and should stand for is so non-Christian, they should take “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance because none of them stand for anything that is preached in the sermon on the mount.
July 11, 2020
A must read for every American.
As many of us do, I believe the separation of migrant children from their parents is a shame that the United States will never be able to live down. Our souls were darkened by this horrible policy. Jacob Soboroff reported on the separation and his book shows us how it happened. His inclusion of the tale of a father and son caught in the trap brings a reality and heart to his reporting.
As many of us do, I believe the separation of migrant children from their parents is a shame that the United States will never be able to live down. Our souls were darkened by this horrible policy. Jacob Soboroff reported on the separation and his book shows us how it happened. His inclusion of the tale of a father and son caught in the trap brings a reality and heart to his reporting.
July 13, 2020
Brilliant reporting. Every single enabler of this criminal administration's cruel border policies should be dragged to The Hague and prosecuted for crimes agains humanity.
July 8, 2020
No more than a magazine article. Sorry I bought it.?'ll
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2020
This book is not easy to read but I am glad Jacob Soboroff was there, bearing witness and now telling the story. We cannot turn away from this no matter how heartbreaking it is.
November 14, 2020
Like many others, I thought the information in this book was very important and so I slogged through it despite the quality of the writing.
March 30, 2021
This book goes deep into the disturbing issues at the border... stories from real people, revealing many of the things happening we’d wish aren’t true. The book has a heavy bias against Trump, but I hope that’s able to be pushed aside, if that bothers you, and be able to hear the voice of the image bearers and what’s being faced at the border. The book doesn’t offer answers per say, but deeper look into what these families/children are facing. My hope is the reader feels the nudge to care about this issue and continue further study....chew on ways we can think about this faithfully and act and vote on these things going forward. I’m left wanting to learn more from the policy makers thinking, border patrol officers, advocates fighting for these families, current Biden administration plans etc etc. I never want to stop listening to the families ...
December 5, 2020
I was thoroughly confused when the Trump administration started separating children from their asylum-seeking parents. Now I know why. This is a story of what happens when an administration set on using cruelty as a deterrent uses bureaucratic obfuscation to initiate and hide its cruel intent. It took weeks of probing by journalists and truth telling by a handful of "deep state" professionals before we realized that the administration was purposely separating increasing numbers of children from their parents. Putting a white nationalist in charge of WH immigration policy and injecting an AG with old-school segregationist roots into the process, is probably not the best way to effect constructive immigration reform or achieve humane policy outcomes.
August 30, 2020
Jacob Sobroroff, a journalist with MSNBC, spent most of 2017-2018 tracking down what was happening at Mexican border when asylum seekers asked for asylum in the United States. He found out that there was a policy of separating parents and children and putting them into detention centers. Many parents were often prosecuted for crossing the border though it was their right under asylum law. Jacob looks at the policy overall which initially secret and follows a father and son, Juan and Jose in the system. While some families have been released, it is still going on today despite a judge’s order to stop and reunite families.
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