The U.S. government has asked a court for more time to reunite immigrant children with their parents.
The families were separated when crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally under the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy.
The practice has been met with an international outcry from U.S. allies, human rights groups and Pope Francis.
A judge had ordered that children younger than 5 were to be reunited with their parents by July 10 and all families reunited by July 26.
Some parents deported
At a court hearing Friday, the government said 19 parents have been deported without their children.
During Friday’s hearing, a U.S. Justice Department attorney argued that the court-ordered reunification deadlines did not apply to parents who have been deported. The judge ruled that deported parents are included in the order.
The judge did not grant the government any extensions Friday, but said he wanted a list of children Saturday whom the government felt could not be reunited with families in a timely manner and the reasons why. Court will reconvene Monday.
The hearing was part of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit.
11,800 children held
Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that of more than 11,800 children being held by HHS in children’s shelters, fewer than 3,000 were separated from parents. The rest are unaccompanied minors. He said about 100 of the separated children are 5 or younger.
Azar said that HHS will use “every minute of the time” remaining to be sure that people who claim to be parents of separated children are indeed parents. The task requires compiling data from Customs and Border Patrol and ICE and then, in cases where there are disparities, following up.
Where there is no documentation, DNA samples will be used to match parents with children.
“All of this work should be done before we reunite a child with a parent. In order to meet the court’s deadlines, HHS also has had to narrow its traditional focus from the comprehensive review for the safety and suitability of sponsors,” Azar said.
He said ICE is moving people who have been identified as parents closer to the shelters where their children are. When families are reunited, they will be turned over to ICE to be held in detention together.
Perhaps because of the family separation policy, the number of apprehensions at the southwestern border fell during June, according to the Department of Homeland Security, from 51,905 in May to 42,565 in June — a drop of about 18 percent.
