The Department of Homeland Security is setting up an office that will work with Central American governments to inform them of reunification efforts for families that were separated at the border under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced during a trip to Guatemala Tuesday.
Nielsen touted the forthcoming project during a meeting with the foreign ministers of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the Associated Press reported.
She said the goal of the office would be to create a simpler means of communicating information about migrant adults and children who may have been separated and since reunited to those back home. DHS did not respond to a request for additional information on the new office, including its name.
The top Homeland Security official spoke with the Northern Triangle leaders for a few hours and the group came to a consensus on steps to take to discourage emigration to the U.S. by way of smugglers.
The Department of Health and Human Services has more than 11,000 unaccompanied alien children in its care. Its Office of Refugee Resettlement has up to 3,000 minors in its care, including children who were separated from adults they traveled to the U.S. with from May 6 through June 20.
During that time frame, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was instructed to refer for prosecution all adults who illegally entered the country between ports of entry, thus forcing adults and kids to be separated.
HHS told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that four of the illegal immigrant children under the age of five who were separated from their parents had been reunited with their families so far.
A total of 51 children are either eligible or in the process of being confirmed eligible to be turned over to parents in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to ICE and HHS. Four have been returned, and 34 parents have been approved for reunification; each parent belongs to at least one child.
[Also read: Only 7 asylum-seeking families were separated at ports of entry from May 6 to July 2, say border officials]
