A newly released government watchdog report states that the Trump administration's family separation policy had major problems. 

In June, images of children separated from their parents at the border haunted both the public and elected officials.

The report, from the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, states DHS was not ready to implement President Donald Trump’s zero tolerance policy on immigration – or deal with the dire consequences.

According to the report, “Customs and border patrol detained 861 children who'd been separated from their parents for longer than the legally-allowed 72-hour period.” The department also struggled to identify, track and reunify families due to limitations with its information technology systems.

DHS provided inconsistent information to people who arrived with children, resulting in some parents not understanding they'd be separated from their kids or be unable to communicate with them once they'd been separated.

DHS defended the actions of customs and border patrol in the memo, and blamed the Health and Human Services agency for detention delays.

A DHS spokesperson says, “It's difficult to enforce broken immigration laws – this administration will no longer turn a blind eye to illegal immigration and will continue to refer illegal border crossers for prosecution. We are committed to enforcing the rule of law."

The Trump administration had reversed the policy on family separations by June 20. As of last week, the government still has custody of 355 children separated from their parents.

A contractor running a temporary shelter in Tornillo, Texas, said that facility is still housing at least 1,600 children. These are mostly children who came across the border by themselves and were not separated from their parents.