- About Archives
- About SAA
- Careers
- Education
- Publications
- Advocacy
- Membership
Since May, the US government had taken more than 2,300 kids away from their families as a result of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' new "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which calls for criminally prosecuting all people entering the country illegally. Reports started surfacing of the ensuing chaos at the border; in one especially horrible case, a child was reportedly ripped from her mother's breast. As outrage grew, the question came up over and over again: Where were the children? Between the ad-hoc implementation of "zero tolerance" and the opaque bureaucracy of the immigration system in general, migrant advocates, journalists, and even politicians struggled to find clear answers.
Gil, a father of two, knew they could be useful. As the digital scholarship librarian at Columbia University, Gil's job is to use technology to help people find information—skills he had put to use in times of crisis before.
Read more here.