It sure looks like tearing apart to me:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family...

>However, The New Yorker spoke to lawyers and advocates who said there is no formal process or clear protocol for tracking parents and children within the system and that chaotic systems and inadequate record keeping make it difficult even to know which facility a child might be kept at.

I don't think it rises to the level of dishonesty, but I do think the writer should not have included something as unknowable and irrelevant as the possible hidden motives of these agencies.

Nevertheless, suing these agencies to prevent unwarranted surveillance is justified.

It’s what people who were working for the agencies themselves have said:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/656/let-me-count-the-ways