They are among more than 11,000 children now in 100 detention centers across the country, including so-called “tender age” shelters for babies and toddlers. More than 2,400 children have been separated from their parents since May, when President Donald Trump and his Justice Department instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy for undocumented immigrants crossing the border.

That policy mandates prosecution and detention in all cases, including for asylum-seekers, many of whom are fleeing violence in Central America (even though Customs and Border Protection officials admitted last week that the agency cannot feasibly detain all violators).

The policy, which has sparked outrage across the country, proved intolerable to Porth, the executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council. So she went down to Texas last weekend with a small group from the Bay Area to see the detention centers in Brownsville and nearby McAllen, just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

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