A federal judge in California agreed Monday to give the Trump administration more time to reunite all migrant children under the age of 5 with their parents by Tuesday night.
The indefinite extension came two days after Justice Department attorney Sarah Fabian informed the court it was in a position to reunite 54 of the 102 kids with the adults they crossed the border with between May 6 and June 20.
Judge Dana Sabraw originally gave the justice Department two weeks to reunite the youngest children with their parents, following their being separated by border agents as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. That policy mandated first-time illegal entrants, even parents, be referred for prosecution and taken away from their kids.
On Saturday, Sabraw asked for the names of the more than 100 affected children and turned them over to the plaintiff, the American Civil Liberties Union.
Last week, the government said it lacked the information on about half of the parents’ whereabouts, including because some adults were in federal custody and could not be released while others had been deported and elected not to bring their child with them. Sabraw recognized both of these as issues in reuniting families, according to an NBC report.
Fabian will have to issue an update Tuesday morning on who will be reunited and who will require additional time, as well as the timeline for those releases.
Children between 6 and 17 years old must be reunited with the adult they were separated from within one month.
Justice Department and HHS officials did not respond to requests for comment.
