Still separated: Nearly 500 migrant children remain in U.S. custody
Parents of two-thirds were deported
Lawyers are cold-calling phone numbers in far-flung Central American villages, and enlisting church pastors and schoolteachers to help. They are spreading the word on radio stations, putting up posters and setting up Spanish-language hotlines. They are trying to reach every parent separated from their children by the Trump administration.
More than a month after a court deadline passed for the government to reunite families divided by President Trump’s border crackdown, nearly 500 children remain in U.S. government-funded shelters without their parents, according to court papers filed Thursday night.
Advocates and government officials say it could be weeks, months or longer before they are together.
Nearly two-thirds of the 497 minors still in custody – including 22 “tenderage” children, who are younger than 5 – have parents who were deported, mostly in the first weeks of Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy.
Their lawyers are locating parents in their home countries to ask whether they want their children sent back, or would rather have them remain in the United States to pursue their own immigration claims. At the same time, the lawyers are trying to bring some deported parents back to seek permission to live in the United States - a decision that might end up with U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw, who issued the reunification order.
Other parents are still being vetted or are ineligible to immediately regain custody because they are in custody, in some cases for minor or years-old offenses.
Government officials say they are moving as fast as possible, despite legal challenges and complicated logistics – including dozens of children who officials say want to go home to their parents, but have not been sent because of atemporary court order that prohibits their deportation.
“There are a lot of folks who want to move forward with reunification, and we want as few roadblocks as possible,” said Justice Department lawyer Scott Stewart at a hearing Friday.
The government expects to reunite all the families eventually, unless parents pose a safety threat or decide that their children should pursue asylum in the United States. Children in those circumstances A boundary monument stands along the U.s.-mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico.
probably would have relatives or other sponsors they could live with, officials say. If not, they could end up in long-term foster care.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which fought for Sabraw’s reunification order, suspects the children are agreeing to leave the United States only because they miss their parents, and not because they feel safe in their homelands, ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said. Lawyers are trying to bring some deported parents back so families can apply for asylum together instead.
Experts say the months children spent apart from family members can cause them permanent emotional harm.
“I’m really concerned about the longer-term mental health and well-being of the kids,” said Christie Turner, deputy director of legal services for Kids in Need
of Defense, which provides lawyers for migrant children. “How much damage is being done to them?”
The government announced the family separation effort on May 7, saying it was necessary to criminally prosecute migrants who crossed the border illegally with their children.
An international outcry prompted Trump to end the practice on June 20. Days later, in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Sabraw stopped the deportation of separated parents and gave the government 30 days to return more than 2,600 children.
The government had no reunification system, and officials worked for weeks out of an emergency command center to identify which minors belonged to which adults and explore safety concerns.