Only four of the illegal immigrant children who were separated from their parents at the border under the zero tolerance policy at the border have been reunited with their families so far, but dozens more are expected to be reunited as early as today, Trump administration officials said Tuesday.
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 the Department of Health and Human Services. Four have been returned, and 34 parents have been approved for reunification; each parent belongs to at least one child.
Another 16 parents have cleared background tests, but not had their relationship to the child verified.
These 51 children are on a faster track to reunification than another set of 53, which are facing complications and may never be reunified. For example, 20 children cannot be reunited with parents because of “logistical” issues, which Chris Meekins, HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response chief of staff, said was because they are being deported.
Those removed would have had the chance to decide whether the child was deported with them, but the majority opted to be deported without their child.
“Their goal when they paid the smuggler and these cartels $5-6,000 … was to get their children here. So if they have to go back on their own, that’s fine because that was their goal in the first place,” said Matthew Albence, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations executive associate director.
Three adults admitted ahead of DNA testing they were not the biological parents. Another two adults failed DNA tests and eight adults had “serious issues” that arose from their criminal background checks,” officials said.
“If we had just reunited kids with the adults, we would be putting them in the care of a rapist, a child abuser … and someone who was charged with murder in their home nation,” Meekins said.
