family separations
Of more than 100 detained, the Trump administration has only reunited 4 immigrant toddlers with their parents
The Trump administration has reunited just four of the 102 migrant children age 5 or younger who were supposed to be back with their families by Tuesday, court documents show. Another 50 are expected to be reunified today.
Officials were given the chance to miss the previously imposed Tuesday deadline, with a federal judge requesting a proposed timeline for when each family could be reunited. In the submitted documents explaining the status of the migrant children who were separated from their parents upon arriving in the U.S. under the "zero tolerance" immigration policy, the administration explains that there are a wide range of cases.
The documents show that 26 children have been determined "not eligible for reunification," citing reasons like parents with "serious criminal history" or parents who are being detained in criminal custody. In one case, the government still doesn't know where the child's parent is, writing that "records show the parent and child might be U.S. citizens."
Fifty-one of the 102 cases are classified as "likely eligible for reunification," but the Department of Justice won't make the deadline because the parents are in immigration detention. Another 12 cases won't meet the deadline because the parents were "removed" from the U.S., and the government needs to contact them to "determine whether they wish to have their child reunified with them in their home country."
The judge reportedly agreed with the government's evaluation that children whose parents had criminal convictions wouldn't be subject to Tuesday's deadline, but said he intends to uphold the deadline "on most of the individuals."