(NewsNation) — Record numbers of people in family units entered the United States without authorization in August, and although there are avenues for them to immigrate legally, bonds are often fractured in pursuit of permanent residency.

Critics of the U.S. immigration system say policies specifically designed to help families immigrate together can be slow, complicated, and aren’t inclusive of all family structures. As a result, children are separated from their guardians and made to participate in potentially traumatic court proceedings or living situations.

Still, others say the nation’s immigration policies could be more strict. Former President Donald Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s policies centered on keeping families together, saying Biden “single-handedly launched a youth migrant crisis that is enriching child smugglers.” 

In August, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested at least 91,000 migrants who crossed as part of a family group, according to preliminary data obtained by The Washington Post — surpassing the prior record set under Trump.

Immigration’s strain on local resources has also been a target of criticism. Texas started busing hundreds of thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities in protest of federal border policies more than a year ago.  As of Tuesday, Chicago was sheltering large groups of migrants at O’Hare International Airport, where asylum seekers described the living conditions as inhumane.

Immigration advocates maintain, however, that legal paths to the U.S. are hard to navigate as migrants face poverty, political unrest and climate disasters in their native countries. 

Family-based green cards are part of a series of legal avenues into the U.S. Just as people can enter the country for employment or humanitarian reasons, the U.S. also issues immigration visas to people with immediate relatives who are U.S. citizens.

People with more distant U.S.-citizen relatives can also apply for a visa, but only a limited number are issued each year under those circumstances. 

“Although we all like to say that we are and that family unity is a principle… because of long waitlists, because of the ways the tension is happening in practice — children and parents and other family members are often apart. And for lengthy, lengthy periods of time,” said Joanna Dreby, a sociology professor at the State University of New York at Albany. 

The average wait time for applicants filing for a family-based green card from within the U.S. is more than 11 months, according to an analysis by the immigration advocacy group Boundless.

If migrants are trying to come to the U.S. through other family members who are U.S. citizens, it can add wrinkles.

“That’s a complex legal inquiry about whether mom, dad is naturalized, whether they were married, whether you were living in the custody of the citizen parent. There’s all these sub-inquiries,” said Mary Holper, the director of Boston College Law School’s Immigration Clinic.

The concerns linger even after the initial process, and deportation practices are potentially a bigger concern for families, said Holper, who has represented immigration detainees facing removal.

“This separates families all the time and our detention system separates families all the time,” she said. 

People who aren’t U.S. citizens aren’t afforded the same rights someone who is a citizen would be granted going through the court system. They can be stopped by law enforcement and placed in a detention center for any number of reasons, including an expired visa. 

Then, based on their immigration status alone, they can be held at an immigration detention center, often located in a county jail. That’s regardless of whether they’re accused of committing a crime. Although there can be overlap, immigration proceedings are civil matters, not criminal, Holper noted. 

If bed space isn’t available locally, someone could be transferred to another state. 

“I have clients right now who were picked up in New Jersey, and then are initially detained there and then moved over to Boston, far away from their families,” Holper said. 

Once they’ve been detained, they might not be eligible for a bond hearing, and if they are, they’re generally not afforded a court-appointed attorney to argue their case. 

The reasons cited for this kind of detention tend to be three-fold, Holper said. Immigration agents say it keeps communities safe, ensures the detained person comes to court and deters others from remaining in the country without proper authorization.

The threat of deportation and practices that separate children from their immigrant parents can lead to depression, anxiety and internalized stigma, according to a recent study out of Drexel University. 

Instead, the study’s authors recommended more “family-friendly” policies that would prioritize children’s long-term health and well-being. 

Children who witnessed a parent’s arrest, for example, remembered feeling “confused and shocked about what was going on,” according to the report. 

One 16-year-old girl described going to a courthouse with her parents and siblings for her father’s immigration case. She and her sisters waited in the hallway while her parents went into a different room for what she thought at the time was a meeting. But only the girl’s mother emerged later. 

“She wasn’t with my dad,” she told researchers. “And that’s when we knew that they took him… We never knew he would get taken away from us.”

Feelings of fear, panic, and intense, uncontrollable sadness often followed the detainment or deportation of a parent, according to the study. Milestones like graduations or birthdays exacerbated those symptoms for some.

That’s why some advocates have pushed alternatives to detention – ways for courts to monitor immigrants with technology like GPS or cellphones, or home visits and check-ins, while still keeping families together while their cases are ongoing. 

Kate Wheatcroft, co-founder and chair of the board at Together and Free, a non-profit that advocates for family unification, said even after separated families are reunified, the trauma can be hard to move past. 

“The repercussions are going to last years and years,” she said. “The trauma is ongoing. I wish (people) understood these people still have serious legal cases in front of them that they have to mount.”