The Trump administration late Thursday said it had reunited all of the children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border with their migrant families — or at least, the ones who were eligible.
According to a court filing, 1,442 immigrant children out of 2,551 were reunited with their parent or parents currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in California had set a deadline of midnight July 26 for the federal government to reunite migrant families separated under the “zero tolerance” policy instilled by the Justice Department earlier this year.
[Previous coverage: Justice Department signals it needs more time to reunite migrant families]
Another 378 children were released under “other appropriate circumstances,” which includes reunification with a parent already released by ICE or released to another relative or approved sponsor.
“The expected total number of eligible potential class members in ICE custody (seeking to be reunited), who will not have been reunited (by the end of the day): 0,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.
However, there are still 711 children left in federal government custody who were not “eligible” for reunification due to a variety of issues — such as a parent who waived the right to reunify or a “red flag” on the parent’s background check.
Of those who were not eligible to be reunited, 79 children have a parent who was released by ICE and who has not been located by the federal government, 431 have a parent who was deported from the U.S., and 94 have a parent who has not been located for reasons not specified.
“The reunification plan outlined to the Court … is proceeding, and is expected to result in the reunification of all class members found eligible for reunification at this time by the Court’s July 26, 2018 deadline,” the Justice Department declared in the filing.
The case is part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s class-action lawsuit against “zero tolerance,” asking the federal government to speed up the reunification process.
The ACLU and the Trump administration will appear before Sabraw on Friday.
Sabraw had ordered in late June that the Trump administration reunite families that had been split at the border, setting a deadline to reunite children under the age of 5 with their parents within 14 days, and all other children who have been separated from their parents within 30 days.
