The Marshall Project

An Irrevocable Separation

Robert Meeropol reflects on how family separation in 2018 mirrors being ripped from his parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, more than 50 years ago.

The disturbing images and soundtracks of young children being torn from their parents’ arms have reopened the wounds of my childhood.

My parents, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, were arrested and jailed shortly after my third birthday in May 1950. Until then, my brother Michael, who was seven, and I were living in what I remember as a warm and loving family. Over the next three years, we were shuttled between family members. Some

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