Entry Questionnaire

1. Title of story(ies) or series and names of people, including and identifying freelancers, who worked
on this story. a) For a partnership or collaboration, please name each entity that took part in the
investigation.:
The Innocents: How U.S. Immigration Policy Punishes Migrant Children
By Garance Burke, Martha Mendoza and Associated Press journalists

2. Date(s) published, aired, or posted.:

June - December 2018

3. Topic and synopsis of story or series, including major findings.:

Federal immigration policies that separated children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border had
real, traumatic consequences on the most vulnerable members of our society. This series of exclusive
investigations identified “tender age shelters” warehousing babies and toddlers, exposed a Virginia
shelter where migrant teenagers described horrific abuse and followed a Salvadoran mother who came
close to losing her daughter to adoption, revealing the legal possibility that separated children could be
permanently taken from their parents. AP also followed the money, highlighting the billion-dollar
business in migrant child detention, a sector that has grown tenfold in the last decade. Just before year’s
end, AP broke the news that the government was keeping most of the 14,000 migrant kids in its care in
shelters with hundreds of others, despite expert warnings that mass institutionalization can cause life-
long trauma. Based on deep source reporting and exclusive data, the story was the first to provide the
number of children in every government-contracted detention center, shelter and foster care program
dating back to 2017 _ data the government had been withholding all year.

4. How the story got started (tip, assignment, etc.).:

Under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, hundreds of children as young as a few
months old were taken from their parents and transferred into U.S. federal custody. Burke and Mendoza
began by focusing on finding the children in shelters, foster care, residential treatment and detention
camps around the U.S. to assess whether they were being put at risk. In many cases they were,
according to source reporting, court documents and data, the reporters would find as the year unfolded.

5. Was your work based in any way on another news organization's previously published or aired
report? If yes, please provide the name and publication or air date.:
The investigation dug beyond daily headlines from The Associated Press and myriad national media
organizations covering the breaking news over immigration and unearthed new information in the
public interest.

6. Results/impact (if any).:

Each story in this series drew vast national attention and many had direct policy impacts. One was read
on the Senate floor. Another brought MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow to tears on air. Lawmakers
introduced new legislation citing AP’s findings, and congressional leaders sent letters to the White
House demanding action and demanding hearings.
The day after AP’s report on tender age shelters, President Donald Trump ended family separations.
State officials began investigating a Virginia lockup where AP identified abuse, and federal authorities
are currently closing the largest, and most unaccountable detention camp after AP reported staff weren’t
undergoing FBI background checks.

7. The following questions deal with any documents and/or data you used; answer any that apply to
your work: a) List any websites that were useful in obtaining documents and/or data. b) Did you file
any state and/or federal requests for documents and/or data? c) Did you have any difficulties obtaining
information from that state or federal agency? i) If so, how did you resolve it? d) If you obtained data,
what data did you use and what was its source? What was the cost, if any? e) Did you have difficulties
with the data itself? How did you overcome them? f) Did you build any databases? g) Was data
analysis done by your own staff or was outside assistance used? Who? h) What specific software did
you use?:
7) The following questions deal with any documents and/or data you used; answer any that apply to
your work:
a) List any websites that were useful in obtaining documents and/or data.
We used reports and data from various Inspector Generals offices, the Government Accountability
Office, the Federal Procurement Data System, U.S. Health and Human Services' Tracking
Accountability in Government Grants System and federal agency budgets and contracting offices.
b) Did you file any state and/or federal requests for documents and/or data?
We filed about a dozen FOIAs and public records requests in several states.
c) Did you have any difficulties obtaining information from that state or federal agency?
Yes, we had very few helpful responses. The Michigan child welfare agency responded to our records
request, and state courts there did help us track down case files for a Salvadoran girl whose foster
parents were trying to adopt her. After negotiations with AP, they allowed a reporter to watch video
footage of a related custody hearing in person. But federal FOIAs for incident reports, cases, policies
and more have gone unanswered.
i) If so, how did you resolve it?

We developed strong sources, gaining their trust and understanding to provide us information in the
public interest outside official channels.
d) If you obtained data, what data did you use and what was its source? What was the cost, if any?
We obtained data showing the number of children in individual detention centers, shelters and foster
care programs for nearly every week over the past 20 months, revealing in detail the expanse of a
program at the center of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The source was
anonymous and there was no cost.
e) Did you have difficulties with the data itself? How did you overcome them?
We did not have difficulties. We did need to take time to carefully analyze the data over time to show
that decades after the U.S. stopped institutionalizing kids because large and crowded orphanages were
causing lasting trauma, it was happening again. By late December, the federal government had placed
most of the 14,300 migrant toddlers, children and teens in its care in detention centers and residential
facilities packed with hundreds, or thousands, of children.
We also released the data to dozens of AP customers and worked to break it down state by state, so
other journalists throughout the U.S. could localize the story. Many did on air, online or in print.
f) Did you build any databases?
Yes, we built databases showing which shelters and companies are receiving federal contracts to care
for migrant children, and where those children are being held.
g) Was data analysis done by your own staff or was outside assistance used? Who?
We used our own staff for data analysis.
h) What specific software did you use?
R and Excel

8. Have you run a correction or clarification on the report? Has anyone come forward to challenge its
accuracy? If so, please explain.:
No. The reporters verified information before releasing it, meticulously fact checking and taking
responsibility for the accuracy. In each case, the government ultimately affirmed the AP’s findings.

9. Difficulty, uniqueness of effort, or other special circumstances related to this subject.:

This extraordinary effort required in-person interviews in El Salvador, Michigan, Washington D.C., San
Antonio and Tornillo (near El Paso, Texas). The reporters door knocked, sat in court rooms, walked
around detention facilities, and spent hundreds of hours speaking with more than 100 parents, children,
lawyers, federal officials, psychologists and child welfare experts, whistleblowers and policy makers.
They combed through dozens of reports, spreadsheets and transcripts, never forgetting that as
journalists they have an obligation to hold their public servants accountable, especially when it comes
to the safety of children.

10. Length of time taken to report, write and edit the story.:
Nine months.