Court bashes Trump for reunite disaster
Judge says reunite fams as gov’t drags feet, admits 1 kid may be citizen
A federal judge in California threatened to punish the Trump administration Tuesday after it acknowledged it was missing a court-ordered deadline to reunite more than 100 children with their migrant parents.
San Diego Federal Judge Dana Sabraw initially gave the government a July 10 deadline to reunify the 102 kids under the age of 5 who were ripped from their undocumented parents because of the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy.
Sabraw hinted Monday he might give the administration an extension on that deadline after Justice Department lawyer Sarah Fabian said she expected only about half of the minors to be reunited with their parents. But, in a court filing Tuesday, Fabian revealed a mere four of the 102 children had been reunified with their loved ones, while she expected an additional 34 to be reunited by the end of the day. Sabraw said that's too little, too late. “These are firm deadlines,” Sabraw said. “They're not aspirational goals.”
The judge said he would not push back the deadline after all and asked the American Civil Liberties Union to prepare a proposal for possible sanctions or fines against the administration, should it not be able to reunite the 102 kids with their parents by the end of Tuesday. He also told the feds to hurry up.
An ACLU spokesman declined to comment.
If Fabian's assessment is accurate, 38 children would be reunited with their parents by the end of Tuesday — which amounts to about one-third of the total number of separated minors under 5.
The Trump administration claimed in the Tuesday filing it had been unable to reunite a majority of the youngsters because some of their parents are not “class members,” meaning they are either not able to locate them, have a criminal record, are being treated for an illness or pose a “danger” to their loved ones.
Of the adults who aren't class members, eight had “serious” criminal records; five were determined to not be the parent of the accompanying child; one faces credible evidence of child abuse; one planned to live in a household where a person has an outstanding warrant for child sexual abuse; one is being treated for a “communicable disease,” and 10 are in state or federal custody, according to the court filing.
In a particularly distressing case, one child had not been released because the administration had been unable to “conclusively determine” whether the parent was in fact a U.S. citizen. The child might also be a U.S. citizen, the government acknowledged.
Fabian said the remaining 71 adults had been deemed “eligible for reunification,” but some of their DNA tests had yet to be verified.
Reunifications were going on during the day — The Associated Press reported two boys and a girl who had been in temporary foster care were reunited with their Honduran fathers at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Grand Rapids, Mich., about three months after they were split up.
The three fathers were “just holding them and hugging them and telling them that everything was fine and that they were never going to be separated again,” said immigration lawyer Abril Valdes.
Fabian maintained in the court papers the government is in “compliance with the court’s order,” even though it blew Sabraw’s initial deadline and didn’t live up to its subsequent promises.
The ACLU — which successfully sued the Trump administration last month to reunite the separated migrant families — called bull.
“Plaintiffs recognize that defendants cannot yet reunify the parents who are currently being held in criminal custody,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt wrote in a response filing. “But as to all other class members with children under 5, the government is not in compliance with the clear deadline ordered by the court.”
About 3,000 children were torn from their migrant parents at the country’s southern border after Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared zero tolerance in April, according to the federal Health and Human Services Department.
Sabraw has set a July 26 deadline for the administration to reunify kids older than 5 with their parents.
Amid international outrage, Trump backpedaled on his administration’s family-shattering practice last month and signed an executive order permitting children to remain with their undocumented parents while in custody.
Trump was blunt when asked by reporters Tuesday what his proposed solution is to the migration crisis unfolding at the southern border.
“Well, I have a solution: Tell people not to come to our country illegally,” the President said. “Don’t come to our country illegally. Come like other people do; come legally.”
Thousands of the migrants entering the country illegally are fleeing violence in their Central American home countries. Many are trying to legally apply for asylum at ports of entry, but a number of those asylum seekers have been turned away by federal authorities, according to reports.
Gelernt, the ACLU attorney, demanded the Trump administration stop playing politics and clean up the mess it caused.
“The court could not have been clearer that business as usual is not acceptable,” Gelernt said. “The Trump administration must get these children and parents reunited.”