trump administration’s new policy leading to family separation

i’ve been reading a couple articles on this recently and was surprised it hasn’t been posted as a topic on here yet. i don’t have enough phone space to screenshot the articles, so i’ll quote some and then leave the article titles for people to look up and read in full for a complete understanding.

“As a matter of policy, the US government is separating families who seek asylum in the US by crossing the border illegally.

Dozens of parents are being split from their children each day — the children labeled “unaccompanied minors” and sent to government custody or foster care, the parents labeled criminals and sent to jail.”

from Vox’s article ‘The Trump administration’s separation of families at the border, explained’

“José’s separation from his father is part of the Trump administration’s latest and most widely debated border enforcement policy. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally, a directive that is already leading to the breakup of hundreds of migrant families and channeling children into shelters and foster homes across the country.

The goal, according to administration officials, is to discourage Central American families from making the perilous journey to the United States’ southwest border, where they have been arriving in swelling numbers this year to claim asylum.

In just the first two weeks under President Trump’s new policy, 638 parents who arrived with 658 children had been prosecuted, administration officials told Congress.”

from The New York Times article ‘‘It’s Horrendous’: The Heartache of a Migrant Boy Taken From His Father’

the second article goes into further detail about medical professionals writing letters discouraging this from being done, labeling it as cruel and traumatizing for life.

i guess my question is how is this allowed, esp in the cases of people seeking asylum AND entering at designated points of entry? i feel like i don’t personally have the fullest understanding of the laws regarding asylum-seekers, especially on an international level, but this just feels like a human rights violation to me. i can’t wrap my head around taking their children, some in deceiving ways, and sending them further into the United States.

i don’t post topics, so let me know if i could add or change something to make this a better topic for discussion.