In April, a New York Times investigation estimated that more than 700 children, including 100 under the age of 4, had been taken from their parents at the southern border since October, citing federal Department of Homeland Security officials.
The U.S. government places these children into the homes of sponsors or caregivers.
\"The children will be taken care of -- put into foster care or whatever,\" White House chief of staff John Kelly said in a May 11 interview with NPR.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/trump-1-gty-er-180527_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Oval Office at the White House, May 26, 2018.
But while testifying before a Senate subcommittee on April 26, Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, said the Office of Refugee Resettlement was not able to account for the whereabouts of 1,475 migrant children it had placed.
The alarming news of the unaccounted children preceded a report released on Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union's Border Litigation Project that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents abused and neglected more than 100 unaccompanied migrant children in their custody between 2009 and 2014 under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
The ACLU report also accused the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and the agency's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of failing to \"fully investigate, much less rectify, egregious abuse and neglect of migrant children.\"
Trump's tweet came a day after Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., attacked his immigration policy of splitting up children and parents.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/Sessions-Border-ap-hb-180507_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Gregory Bull/AP
PHOTO: Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks during a news conference near the border with Tijuana, Mexico, May 7, 2018, in San Diego.
\"There are many ways to describe the @realDonaldTrump policy of ripping children away from their parents at the border. It violates human rights laws. It is unAmerican. It would shock Jesus. But I think the most appropriate way to describe it is this: The policy is evil,\" Lieu tweeted.
The new policy has also been roundly panned by celebrities on social media using the hashtag #WhereAreTheChildren.
\"I don’t understand how anyone could work for @ICEgov,\" actress Alyssa Milano tweeted on Saturday. \"ICE’s policy of separating children from their families under the Trump administration is not only un-American, it’s inhumane. Call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE and ask them #WhereAreTheChildren?\"
Actress Jessica Chastain tweeted, \"Are we really such monsters?\"
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