700 separated children still in US custody after deadline

LOS ANGELES: The United States government said on Thursday hundreds of families it broke up at the border with Mexico have not been reunited as a court-ordered deadline to return all children to their parents elapsed.

A federal judge in California had ordered that all eligible migrant families be brought back together. Officials said in a court filing that 1,442 children aged 5 and older had been reunited with their parents.

“The reunification plan 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 deadline (on Thursday),” the government said.

A further 378 children had already been released under other “appropriate circumstances”, the filing added, but more than 700 children remain in custody.

The controversial separations began in May, when migrants entering illegally were detained en masse, and their children taken to detention centres.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which brought the suit to reunite the families, said the government was manipulating the figures to give a false impression of success.

“These parents and children have lost time together that can never be replaced,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said.

“The Trump administration is trying to sweep them under the rug by unilaterally picking and choosing who is eligible for reunification. We will continue to hold the government accountable and get these families back together.”