EL PASO, Texas (AP) The Trump administration faced a court-imposed deadline today to reunite thousands of children and parents who were forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, an enormous logistical task brought on by its zero tolerance policy on illegal entry.
Authorities have identified 2,551 children 5 and older who may be covered by the order to be reunited with their parents by todays court-imposed deadline. That effort was expected to fall short, partly because hundreds of parents may have already been deported without their children.
But, by focusing only those deemed by the government to be eligible for reunification, authorities expected claim success.
As of Tuesday, there were 1,012 parents reunified with their children in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Hundreds more had been cleared and were just waiting on transportation.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told members of Congress on Wednesday that the administration was on track to meet the deadline, an assertion that was greeted with disbelief and anger by the all-Democrat Congressional Hispanic Caucus, according to people who attended. Nielsen declined to comment to reporters as she left the closed-door meeting.
For the last two weeks, children have been arriving steadily at ICE locations in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to be reunited with parents. Faith-based and other groups have provided meals, clothing, legal advice and plane and bus tickets. Parents are typically equipped with ankle-monitoring bracelets and given court dates before an immigration judge.
Natalia Oliveira da Silva, a mother from Brazil, waited nervously outside a detention center in Pearsall, Texas, for her young daughter, Sara. She soon spotted the 5-year-old approaching in a vehicle, a seatbelt over her chest.
Sara got out and was quickly in her mothers arms, asking her, Theyre not going to take you away again, right?
Since their separation in late May, the girl had been at a shelter for immigrant minors in Chicago, while Oliveira was moved through facilities across Texas.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego commended the government Tuesday for its recent efforts and for apparently being on track to reunify the roughly 1,600 parents it deems eligible.
