The Trump administration has reunited all 57 eligible children under the age of five who had been separated from their parents as a result of the zero tolerance policy, cabinet officials confirmed Thursday morning.
Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar, Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed details of the reunifications, and provided reasons why each of 46 other young children could not be reunited with their parents at this time.
“As of this morning, the initial reunifications were completed,” the three leaders said in a joint statement. “Throughout the reunification process our goal has been the well-being of the children and returning them to a safe environment. Our agencies’ careful vetting procedures helped prevent the reunification of children with an alleged murderer, an adult convicted of child cruelty, and adults determined not to be the parent of the child. Of course, there remains a tremendous amount of hard work and similar obstacles facing our teams in reuniting the remaining families.”
An administration official told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday night all eligible young children were expected to be reunited in a matter of hours.
“We anticipate that, as of the early morning on July 12, we will have reunified all children under age 5 who are eligible under the court order for reunification with parents in the United States,” the administration official wrote in an email.
A total of 57 of the 103 children under five who had been covered by the court case were released as of 7 a.m. ET Thursday.
The 46 others were approved by the court as ineligible for release because the adult they were separated from did not meet U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s criteria.
Of that group, 22 children had safety concerns in relation to the adult they traveled with to the U.S., including seven adults who were determined to be their parents, one adult who falsified a birth certificate, one adult who allegedly abused the child, one adult who planned to house the child with an adult charged with sexual abuse of a minor, and one adult who is being treated for a communicable disease.
The remaining 24 kids who were not reunited were ineligible due to “circumstances of the adults in question,” according to HHS and DHS. Twelve have parents who have been deported and contacted; nine adults are in U.S. Marshals Service custody for other offenses; two are in state jails for other offenses; and one adult’s location has been unknown for more than a year.
Judge Sabraw had extended the initial Tuesday evening deadline for releasing the youngest of unaccompanied children to verified parents.
