DURHAM, N.C. (May 7, 2025) — As headlines continue to spotlight the United States’ troubling deportation of young U.S. citizens and its ongoing family separation crisis, Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) has released a timely and urgent resource: “How the Law is Used to Break Apart Families and Undermine Public Safety.”
This new report reveals the deeply entrenched ways in which U.S. criminal, immigration, civil, and administrative systems forcibly separate families on a shockingly regular basis, causing irreparable harm and undermining public safety. From the routine incarceration of caregivers without regard to the needs of their families and dependents, to the often-permanent removal of children from their parents in civil courtrooms, the systems seemingly designed to uphold justice are instead operating as engines of destruction for vulnerable families.
This report comes as the nation grapples with the pressing controversy over immigration enforcement actions, where families, including children, are being removed from their communities and deported with limited—or no—due process protections. The explainer provides critical context by revealing that family separation is not limited to immigration enforcement but is, in fact, pervasive across the American legal system.
The new resource is part of SCSJ’s Reframing Public Safety initiative, which explores, interrogates, lifts up, and shares policies and practices that increase public safety, strike the right balance between accountability and repair, and center dignity, stability, and justice for all.
“Family separation is happening every day in courtrooms and administrative proceedings across America,” said Janki Kaneria, Counsel for Justice System Reform at SCSJ. “Whether it’s ICE tearing a mother from her child, a judge handing down a prison sentence without regard for the children left behind, or a family court forcing separation under the weight of poverty—not abuse—these are all policies that fail our communities. We are not safer when families are broken. We are only more traumatized, more impoverished, and more fractured.”
Key findings in the resource include:
- Criminal Legal System: Nearly half of incarcerated people are parents of minor children. Sentencing rarely accounts for family ties, and incarceration often results in permanent loss of parental rights.
- Immigration Enforcement: Deportations, even of long-term residents and parents of U.S. citizens, rip families apart and cause widespread economic and psychological damage. Children suffer depression, PTSD, and academic decline.
- Family Court and Child Protective Services (CPS): Parents—often poor, Black, Brown, or Indigenous—are investigated and separated from children under pretexts of “neglect,” a label frequently rooted in poverty, not abuse.
Each system claims to protect public safety or child welfare, yet the outcomes show otherwise. As the report emphasizes, “Separating families makes us less safe, not more. It destabilizes homes, traumatizes children, and weakens entire communities.”
“Agencies like CPS wield enormous and nearly unchecked policing power over parents and children. I used to work for the agency; now I work against them,” said Amanda Wallace, Founder of Operation Stop CPS. “The agony, frustration, and confusion that families experience as a result of forcible separation by the state have been invisible for far too long. We’ve got to bring it into the light if we want to protect and support families.”
SCSJ is calling for immediate reforms, including:
- Requiring the consideration of family ties and obligations during criminal sentencing;
- Ending deportations that result in the separation of families;
- Guaranteeing legal counsel in CPS investigations; and
- Replacing family surveillance with family support.
“The courts have repeatedly affirmed that family integrity is a fundamental right, yet our systems routinely violate this principle with devastating consequences for vulnerable families,” said Jake Sussman, Chief Counsel, Justice System Reform at SCSJ. “This report, which is grounded in the extensive research, scholarship, and lived experiences of others shines a light on this all-too-common reality. We hope it serves as a warning and a roadmap for aligning our practices with our constitutional values.”
XXX
Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.