Judge credits, faults government on family reunification

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge commended the Trump administration for reunifying families in its custody with their children after being separated at the U.S.Mexico border, while faulting it for leaving hundreds of families still apart and warning that a better system must be in place.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said the government gets “great credit” after reunifying more than 1,800 children 5 and over with parents or sponsors by Thursday’s courtimposed deadline.

He pointed out that many of the families were reunited while in custody then turned his attention to 431 children whose parents have been deported.

“The government is at fault for losing several hundred parents in the process and that’s where we go next,” the judge said.

Sabraw ordered the government and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the parents, to submit written updates every Thursday on still-separated families.

Sabraw said the “problem” could not be repeated, describing how Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Justice departments didn’t have a system to keep track of the families that were separated when the administration introduced a “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal entry.

“Each (department) was like its own stovepipe, each had its own boss, and they did not communicate,” he said. “What was lost in the process was the family.”