One of the biggest controversies from former President Donald Trump's administration was the so-called "family separation" policy that unfortunately resulted in thousands of migrant children being temporarily separated from their parents or legal guardians after entering the country illegally.

Now, with the prospects of another Trump term looming large, concerns are being raised among Democrats and the media about a return of the supposed family separation policy, with those worries being driven by a new purported documentary on the topic, according to The Washington Post.

Yet, what critics and the film fail to mention is that, as tragic as the family separations are and were, it was deemed necessary to separate the children from their parents because the parents were being detained and prosecuted for violating laws against illegal immigration under the administration's overarching "zero tolerance" border policy.

Documentary bashes purported Trump policy

According to The Post, filmmaker Errol Morris recently premiered his new documentary "Separated" at various independent film festivals and hopes to gain the support of a major studio and widespread release before the election in November.

The film heavily features and is based on a book written by Jonathan White, the former deputy director of children's programs at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which temporarily took custody of an estimated 5,500 children who were separated from their parents while those parents were prosecuted for crossing the border illegally.

Unsurprisingly, the documentary is heavily biased against the former president and made use of interviews with former officials and separate children, as well as animations and re-enactments, to play up fears of a return of the "inhumane" policy if Trump is re-elected to a second term in the White House.

"The hope is that people are appalled by these policies," Morris said in an interview. "When Jonathan White says that it could happen again, that there’s nothing that Congress has implemented that prevents it from happening again, to me, that’s quite horrifying. And Trump himself has not said that he wouldn’t do it again."

Inconvenient facts

For the record, per a slanted PolitiFact article that quibbled with remarks from Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), the Republican vice presidential nominee, there was never an official "family separation" policy but rather some families were temporarily separated as a byproduct of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy for illegal border crossings.

In fact, some family separations occurred under prior administrations and in the current administration, as long-standing U.S. law specifies that children are to be separated from their ostensible parents or guardian at the border when "Border officials cannot establish the custodial relationship; Officials believe the custodian may threaten the child; and the custodian is being detained for prosecution."

To be sure, given the Trump administration's crackdown on prosecuting illegal border crossers, the number of separations surged in comparison to other more lenient administrations, and, tragically, reports indicate that there remain at least 1,000 children who continue to be separated from their families, though there is no explanation of any context -- such as lengthy prison sentences or deaths -- that might shed more light on the situation.

Vance points to family separations occurring under Harris' watch

Meanwhile, given the media's incessant fear-mongering over the purported horrors that a second Trump term may bring, Sen. Vance has been hammered by reporters on multiple occasions about the prospect of additional family separations if Trump wins re-election.

During an Aug. 23 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," host Kristen Welker repeatedly asked Vance if families would be separated as a result of Trump's promised mass deportations of illegal migrants, and for his part, Vance attempted to provide valuable context to the broader illegal immigration situation but Welker persisted on the family separation point.

"I think that families are currently being separated, and you're certainly going to have to deport some people in this country," Vance eventually replied. "You start with the most violent criminals in our country. Those people need to be deported. That's where you focus federal resources. I think you of course have a number of children who are currently living with drug cartel members, not actually their families. We need to, of course, find their families and get them back to their families."

"Kamala Harris' policies have led to thousands upon thousands of migrant children living with sex traffickers and drug cartels. That is the consequence of her policies," he continued, and after several interruptions from Welker, added, "There was a zero tolerance policy during the Trump administration, and that led to less family separation than under Kamala Harris' border policies. That's what's so striking about this. Actually enforcing our border is the most humane thing, for children and certainly for American citizens."

Families are separated every time a parent commits a crime

Last week, pressed by an NBC News reporter on the family separation issue, Sen. Vance said, "When the media says family separation, look -- every time that somebody’s arrested for a crime, that’s family separation."

"If a guy commits gun violence and is taken to prison, that’s family separation, which, of course, is tragic for the children, but you’ve got to prosecute criminals, and you have to enforce the law," he added. "The real family separation policy is when you don’t enforce the border, like Kamala Harris has refused to do."