• by Melynda Fuller , July 3, 2018

Over the weekend, “Families Belong Together” marches were held across the country. Americans spoke out against the government’s recent “zero tolerance” treatment of families attempting to enter the U.S. at the Mexican border, as well as other policies carried out by the agency. 

On June 29, 19 ICE investigators even penned a letter to Homeland Security head Kirstjen Nielsen calling for the end of the agency.

These moves are all significant, but none can repair the damage already done. Thousands of children have been separated from their families, some too young to even know what country they came from. Further, there is no clear plan in place by the Trump administration to reunite the children with their parents.  

However, even as newsrooms are strapped for cash and staff, journalists are trying to find the displaced children and reunite them with their families. 

According to the Nieman Lab, nine newsrooms across four countries have joined a project led by ProPublica to find the immigrant children. BuzzFeed News, Univision News, The Intercept, Frontline, the Texas Tribune, Animal Politico, a Mexican outlet, El Faro, based in El Salvador and Plaza Publica, based in Guatemala, are part of the project. 

Per the report, the outlets are relying on readers to glean information about the facilities where the children are being held and the children themselves.

Readers can check boxes, including ones that read “I was held there” and “I worked or currently work here,” thereby providing information about the children. Other questions ask: “What is the child or children’s name(s)? What age(s)?”

The forms are available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. 

ProPublica initially published a map of all known detention centers across the country. This collaborative initiative grew from that initial move. According to Neiman, this is the fastest the nonprofit journalism project has kick-started such a major collaborative project. 

ProPublica is sharing all data and relevant tips with its partners to provide them with additional resources for stories. A dozen ProPublica journalists are focused on the project. 

In addition to lending much needed help to the crisis, the initiative shows how essential nonprofit outlets like ProPublica have become as journalism and newsrooms cover ongoing crises. 

The funding and manpower needed to pursue deeply important work like this has rapidly diminished over the past decade. Creative solutions like ProPublica’s initiative address some of the gaps left behind, revealing key ways news outlets can serve the public.