The Trump administration promised that it knew where all the children who were separated from their undocumented parents under its “zero tolerance” policy of splitting kids from their parents were. A federal judge ordered all migrant children separated at the Southern border be reunited with their parents and families, and gave the administration until Tuesday to reunite children five years and younger with their parents.
According to Talking Points Memo, the administration has successfully reunited just two children under five with their parents. It is not expected to meet Tuesday’s deadline.
“Southern District of California Judge Dana Sabraw held off on giving them an extension, and is instead demanding that they come back to court on Tuesday to explain how many families were reunited, why the government failed to reunite the rest by the deadline, and how much more time it will need for those cases,” TPM’s Alice Ollstein reports.
Justice Department attorney Sarah Fabien says she believes the administration will be able to reunite barely more than half of those the court had ordered returned to their parents, by the deadline. That would be just 56 in total, out of 102.
The ACLU has offered to help the government in its search for the parents of the children stolen from their parents.
Somewhere between 9 and 19 parents of children 5 or younger have already been deported.