At Texas border, desperate parents turn to attorneys to find their children

Attorneys have become a lifeline for migrants in detention, responding as would clergy to a disaster or tragedy, as the legal labyrinth of immigration has become more complicated.

Although many are accustomed to the immigration system’s complexities, attorneys are finding the situation created by the Trump “zero-tolerance” prosecutions full of never-before-seen hurdles and restrictions that hamper their access to children and parents and are making their work to ensure those with valid asylum and other claims get to stay more difficult…

Rahnama said he and other attorneys expected ICE would have access to a database that would have information on where each child is, but no such database seems to exist.

“They are asking us (and advocacy groups) to give them that information,” Rahnama said.