--- title: 10-Year-Old with Down Syndrome Separated From Mom at Border description: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed that agents separated a child with Down Syndrome from her mother. canonical: https://time.com/5317250/child-down-syndrome-separated-at-border/ author: Gina Martinez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-20T17:25:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:37:48.219Z article:section: Politics og:title: Girl With Down Syndrome Separated From Mother at Border og:description: Officials confirmed they took the girl and her brother og:url: https://time.com/5317250/child-down-syndrome-separated-at-border/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc18bfdf5ce722874/6989337986f68e11ed6e9754/gettyimages-978782556-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Protest-Separation-families-texas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Girl With Down Syndrome Separated From Mother at Border twitter:description: Officials confirmed they took the girl and her brother twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc18bfdf5ce722874/6989337986f68e11ed6e9754/gettyimages-978782556-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Officials Confirm 10-Year-Old Girl With Down Syndrome Separated From Mother at Border > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Jun 20, 2018 5:25 PM UTC  People protest the separation of children from their parents in front of the El Paso Processing Center, an immigration detention facility, at the Mexican border on June 19, 2018 in El Paso, Texas. People protest the separation of children from their parents in front of the El Paso Processing Center, an immigration detention facility, at the Mexican border on June 19, 2018 in El Paso, Texas. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Jun 20, 2018 5:25 PM UTC U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed that agents separated a child with Down syndrome from her mother as they attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. [According to the agency,](https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/record/us-customs-and-border-protection-statement-separation-minor-down-syndrome) the separation was not a result of the Trump Administration’s new [“zero tolerance” immigration policy](http://time.com/5314769/family-separation-policy-donald-trump/). Border Protection said the mother is not being prosecuted, but rather is being held as a witness to alleged human smuggling. The 10-year-old girl’s case gained national attention after Donald Trump’s former campaign manager [Corey Lewandowski mocked her story on Fox News.](http://time.com/5316822/corey-lewandowski-womp-womp/) When a Democratic strategist brought up her case Tuesday night, Lewandowski replied “womp, womp.” > [](https://twitter.com/passantino/status/1009220051172495361) “The mother and her five children were in a vehicle driven by a U.S. citizen,” Border Protection said in a statement Wednesday. “Upon questioning, the mother admitted to being illegally in the United States. Three of the children are U.S. citizens and were released to an aunt. The mother was not prosecuted, but is instead being held as a material witness to support the prosecution of the smuggler, which precipitated the separation of the two other children, both Mexican citizens.” The Trump Administration has come under fire for a strict new immigration policy that has resulted in U.S. Border Patrol agents separating children from their parents when they are caught at the U.S. Mexico border. [Nearly 2,000 minors were separated](http://time.com/5314784/dhs-kirstjen-nielsen-immigration-policy/) from their families in six weeks. Border Protection said the 10-year-old girl and her brother are currently in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and that officials are working with the Department of Justice to reunite the mother with them as soon as possible. “This smuggler has a criminal history including a flight, escape, aiding and abetting making it important that we prosecute,” the agency said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5317250/child-down-syndrome-separated-at-border/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5317250/child-down-syndrome-separated-at-border/"},"headline":"Officials Confirm 10-Year-Old Girl With Down Syndrome Separated From Mother at Border","datePublished":"2018-06-20T17:25:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:37:48.219Z","description":"The agency said the separation was not a result of the Trump administration's new \"zero tolerance\" immigration policy","url":"https://time.com/5317250/child-down-syndrome-separated-at-border/","keywords":["Immigration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc18bfdf5ce722874/6989337986f68e11ed6e9754/gettyimages-978782556-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Gina Martinez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc18bfdf5ce722874/6989337986f68e11ed6e9754/gettyimages-978782556-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Protest-Separation-families-texas","caption":"Protest Over The Separation Of Incarcerated Immigrant Families And Children Held In El Paso, Texas","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5317250/child-down-syndrome-separated-at-border/","name":"Officials Confirm 10-Year-Old Girl With Down Syndrome Separated From Mother at Border"}}]}] ```