Firstly, it is completely unrealistic. No one would separate a child from their parent in any world.
Secondly, the characters are unsympathetic. Sure something terrible happens to them but then you realize that they broke the law. Clearly, they are at fault for breaking the law.
I'm guessing very few HN readers have exposure to this, but Child Protective Services removes hundreds of children per week from their parents and sends them into foster care. Usually for the justifiable health and welfare of the child, but sometimes for very controversial reasons that the public does not support. So there is precedent already that society can, and does, exercise this power. There are about half a million kids in the US foster care system at any point in time.
Is this sarcasm? We are literally less than a week off the tail of the US government doing literally this.
Except current US immigration policy..
This was regularly done in the USSR for idealogical reasons.
> but then you realize that they broke the law.
I'm not familiar with the show, but the law isn't the ultimate arbiter of what you should do all the time. I think this should be obvious from history.