Collaborative on Global Children's Issues

The Family Separation Archive, housed at the Georgetown Law Library, serves as a repository of thousands of records related to the first Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which started approximately in October 2017 and ended on June 20, 2018.

Collected by the American Immigration Council (AIC) through requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, litigation initiated by various entities, and outreach to other non-governmental organizations, this collection was donated by the AIC in October 2025 to the Georgetown Law Library. It also includes materials collected by the AIC from other organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, The Atlantic, and the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest.

The archive contains government records from Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and other government agencies. These materials provide deeper insight into the impacts of the zero tolerance policy on individuals, families, and communities, as well as the government’s justifications for the implementation of the policy.