Fact check: How did family separation policies differ between Obama and Trump administrations?

1. Summary of the results

The key difference between the administrations was the implementation of systematic family separation policies. The Trump administration instituted a "zero tolerance" policy that led to automatic family separations through criminal prosecution of all border crossers ^[1]. The Obama administration explicitly did NOT have a systematic family separation policy ^[1] and specifically tried to keep families together in detention facilities ^[2].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several important contextual elements need to be considered:

• While Obama didn't implement widespread separations, his administration did consider and threaten family separation during legal battles over family detention ^[3]
• Under Obama, some limited separations did occur in specific circumstances such as:
• Suspected child trafficking cases
• Cases where family relationships couldn't be verified ^[2]
• The Obama administration faced three main options when apprehending families:
• Detention
• Separation
• Release with notice to appear ^[3]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

There are several common misrepresentations that need addressing:

• Trump's claims that Obama had the same policy are explicitly refuted by fact-checkers ^[1]
• While some photos of children in detention centers from the Obama era have been used in media coverage, these did not represent a systematic separation policy like Trump's ^[1]
• The narrative benefits different political groups:
• Trump administration supporters use the "Obama did it too" argument to normalize the zero tolerance policy
• Obama administration defenders emphasize the fundamental difference between limited, case-by-case separations and systematic policy