Notes from a town hall held for Citizenship and Immigration Services asylum officers on Feb. 2, 2017, show that the agency’s asylum chief, John Lafferty, told the officers they might have to “hold mothers longer” and “hold children in HHR/ORR,” an acronym for facilities for children run by HHS.

…In the town hall two weeks after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Lafferty laid out a number of policies specifically intended to lower the number of immigrants claiming asylum. According to the notes, he provided attendees with the latest asylum numbers, which were at their highest point in 20 years in 2016, and then said the administration was “in the process of reviewing” a number of policies, including separation of parents and children, to try to curb those numbers.

…Some of the proposals, like raising the bar for passing the initial interview for claiming asylum, have already been implemented. Other policies, like detaining “almost everyone coming over,” have run into logistical difficulties.

…NBC News has found that some women are separated from their children even if they are legally claiming asylum and not being referred for prosecution. [emphasis: mine] In those cases, the children are kept in the same facility, but they are still separated for days without being told whether they will be reunited.

Former USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez, who served under the Obama administration, said families who presented themselves for asylum between ports of entry were not previously prosecuted.

Trump admin discussed separating moms, kids to deter asylum-seekers in Feb. 2017

Aggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh!