Trump separated families at the border even though parents said they preferred to be deported with their children

A report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general released Monday revealed that during the administration of former President Donald Trump, some parents separated from their children at the border between 2017 and 2018 were not provided the opportunity of being returned together to the minors to their countries of origin despite the fact that, in some cases, they would have preferred it instead of being separated.  

"In fact,

ICE expelled some parents without their children despite having proof that the parents wanted to take their children

to their country of origin," the report said.

In addition, we discovered that some ICE records that allegedly documented the decision of migrant parents to leave their children in the United States were significantly flawed, "he adds.  

Trump administration officials said that some parents, who had been separated from their children at the US-Mexico border, chose to leave their children in the United States.

But according to the report,

those claims are not true

.

DHS said in the document that ICE expelled at least 348 parents without documenting that they wanted to leave their children in the United States.

[The Government promises to reunify entire families and not just parents separated from their children at the border by Trump]

One of the statements that contradicts what happened, according to the DHS finding, was expressed by the 2018 Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, who at that time told legislators: "

All parents had the option of bringing the child back

with them when they were deported. Those who did not bring the children with them made the decision that the child should not accompany them. "

On video: This was the first hug from a family that was reunited after the Trump Administration separated them in 2017

May 5, 202100: 32

The report released Monday is the latest in a series of reviews that found inconsistencies across federal agencies during the Trump Administration.

The Trump Administration

separated more than 5,500 families during 2017 and 2018,

 estimate lawyers working to locate migrant families separated by the Trump Administration.

[ICE stops locking immigrants in two prisons reported for serious abuse]

Most of those who were separated under what became known as the

zero tolerance policy

 in May and June 2018 were reunited shortly thereafter, but the whereabouts of many of those who were separated before the official launch of this policy were not known because the Government did not keep records of their separation or whereabouts.

Lawyers commissioned by a judge to reunify families have found the parents of 54 more children in the last month

,

 according to a court document released on May 20.

The parents of 391 children have not yet been located, while those of 445 were found in April. Attorneys say 

the parents of 227 of those children have been deported,

 100 are somewhere in the United States and 14 have no information about contact that the Government has provided.

With information from

CNN.