Without some compelling security risk, why would any law enforcement officer choose to "comply" with any "law" (interpretation) that separates 2, 5, 7, 15 year old kids from their parent, ESPECIALLY WITH NO PLAN TO REUNITE THEM?  Are we heartless robots?

The relevant words are: law enforcement, choices, morality, humane decisions, resources, costs, ICE, guilt, Gestapo, humanity,values, human rights, state sponsored terror .  .  .

"Was the ‘Law to Separate Families’ Passed in 1997 or ‘by Democrats’?"
There is no federal law mandating children and parents be separated at the border; a policy resulting in that outcome was enacted in May 2018.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/was-law-separate-families-passed-1997/

"There is no federal law that stipulates that children and parents be separated at the border, no matter how families entered the United States. An increase in child detainees separated from parents stemmed directly from a change in enforcement policy repeatedly announced by Sessions in April and May 2018, under which adults (with or without children) are criminally prosecuted for attempting to enter the United States:

   -   The “zero-tolerance” policy he announced [in May 2018] sees adults who try to cross the border, many planning to seek asylum, being placed in custody and facing criminal prosecution for illegal entry."

Conservatives who fall back on the mantra that law enforcement is essential and absolute, so separating kids from a parent that is arrested is routine, overlooks at least two facts:

 #1 there is no absolute requirement to separate kids from parents, and

 #2 there MUST be a way to track the kids to reunite the family after the legal process fulfills its duty.