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@itscaitlinhd
@itscaitlinhd
On a break from social media. Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter and feature writer at @theatlantic, via @nytimes & @npr. [email protected].
Brooklyn
caitlindickersonjournalist.com
Joined October 2011
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    1/ I've spent the last 18 months investigating how our government reached the point of taking children away from their parents as a way to discourage migration to the United States. Here's my story about how and why it happened, and who's responsible.
    An American Catastrophe
    From theatlantic.com
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    4/The implications cannot be overstated. At press time, the parents of 185 separated children still had not been found. Even those who have been reunified remain, in many cases, profoundly traumatized. Both parents and children are struggling with severe mental illness.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    3/It's easy to blame family separations on a few hawks and a chaotic administration, but they were co-signed by dozens of high ranking political appointees and bureaucrats. Some actively supported the idea, but many simply declined to push back, figuring that someone else would.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    8/When I asked government officials how this could have happened, many told me they had no idea how badly awry separations would go. But government records show the opposite-everything that went wrong was documented in advance warnings. Still, the administration forged ahead.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    12/And the work is ongoing. @iamfannygarcia and @NaraMilanich are recording the oral histories of separated families to ensure that their stories are preserved.
    Opinion | The U.S. owes separated migrant families much more than reunification
    From washingtonpost.com
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    5/For years we've been told that separations were done humanely and without incident. That's not true. Neris González, a Salvadoran consular worker, recalls kids being physically pulled back and forth between their parents and agents; she worried some might get hurt.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    2/ Beyond the answers to those initial questions, I came away with a new understanding of the government processes and procedures that exist to prevent bad policies from being implemented--systems that in this case, were dismantled, disempowered or ignored.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    9/This piece is the continuation of a body of work by many reporters who helped to uncover family separations before they were publicly acknowledged, during the many months when government officials were misleading congress and the public about what they were doing.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    7/González can still hear the children's ear-piercing screams. She recalls getting ready to leave the facility at the end of the day. The children hugged and clung to her, begging her not to leave them in the detention center alone.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    11/There are too many to name, but among them @JuliaEAinsley @lomikriel @jacobsoboroff @gingerthomp1 @mariasacchetti @nickmiroff @dlind @jonathanblitzer @haleaziz and of course, @nixonron @mirjordan @shearm and @juliehdavis. The list goes on and on. Please add to it.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Jan 26, 2024
    A judge has ordered that Kirstjen Nielsen be deposed in a lawsuit over family separations.
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    Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights SF
    @lccrsf
    Jan 25, 2024
    BREAKING: Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's Deposition Approved by Court, Citing Compelling Evidence of "Bad Faith" in Family Separation Practices. Learn more in our press release: lccrsf.org/pressroom_post…
    91K
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    6/She says the CBP processing center where she worked was virtually locked down while separations were underway. No one outside of government was allowed in to see what was going on.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 7, 2022
    Replying to @itscaitlinhd
    13/This story couldn't have happened w/out my brilliant colleagues, starting w/ the unparalleled @sstossel. @AndrewAoyama's research was indispensable, as was a copy and checking army, plus our photo, art and experimental storytelling departments. I'm so lucky to work with them.
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    @itscaitlinhd
    @itscaitlinhd
    Aug 6, 2024
    1/ For the Atlantic's September cover story, I took 3 trips to the Darien Gap to try to understand the forces driving people there: instability, policy failures, and smuggling orgs that are eager to take advantage. @lynseyaddario captured it all.
    Seventy Miles in Hell
    From theatlantic.com
    159K