U.S. works to reunite families
‘Under 3,000’ kids still separated from parents
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Thursday it will meet courtordered deadlines for reuniting families separated at the border.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters his department is readyto reunite children in its care with their parents, starting next Tuesday with those under age 5. HHS said it’s using DNA testing as a backup to confirm the parent-child link.
However,Mr. Azarwarned that entire families may remain in the custody of immigration authorities for extended periods, even those claimingasylum.
Mr. Azar also used a new, higher number for migrant kids separated from parents, “under 3,000” as compared with the figure of 2,047 he provided at a Senate hearing last week. Of those, about 100 are underfive years old.
He said the new number reflected a more thorough look at HHS case files, and over a longer time period, to comply with the court order that families be reunited. That order had been issued after his Senatetestimony.
Still, Mr. Azar’s effort to be more accurate seemed to createconfusion.
HHShas long been charged with caring for unaccompanied minors crossing the border. Usually, the agency placeskids with a U.S. relative or foster family while their cases are decided. This year, HHS took on the role of caring for children separated from their parents as a consequence of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego has ordered the youngest children reunited by Tuesday of next week, and the rest before the end of this month. A court hearing on the administration’s efforts and plans is scheduledfor tomorrow.
Mr. Azar called the deadlines “extreme” but said HHS will comply after an extensive effortto identify children in its shelters who were separated, to confirm parentage, and to screen parents for criminal violations.
“While I know there has been talk of confusion, any confusion is due to a breakdown in our immigration system and court orders. It’s not here,” Mr. Azar said, adding that migrant children are being well cared for in HHS facilities.
Once HHS reunifies the families, they will be in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS has already started moving some parents closer to facilities where their children are beingkept.
Mr. Azar said his department has more than 230 people working on trying to matchchildren and parents.
DNA testing is being used as a backup to speed up matches if problems arise with paper documentation, said Jonathan White of the HHS Administration for Children and Families. It’s done by swabbing the inside of the cheek of parent and child and sending the results to a lab for comparison.
Although Mr. White said DNA will only be used for reuniting families and genetic fingerprintswill remain confidential, advocates for migrant families were concerned about intrusiveness.
“This is potentially extremely harmful in aggregating a database of DNA that people are somehow directed to provide in order to simply see their children,” said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, a Texas nonprofit.
Shortly before Mr. Azar spoke, President Donald Trumptook to Twitter.
Recently, the president told Republicans in Congress to stop wasting their time on immigration until after November’ selections, but Mr. Trump insisted that Congress “FIX OUR INSANE IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW!”on Twitter.
The tweets seemed to carry an ominous message for bordercrossers.
“When people, with or without children, enter our Country, they must be told to leave without our,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Tell the people “OUT,” and they must leave, just as they would if they were standingon your front lawn.”
Congress has not advanced major immigration legislation going back to George W. Bush. Republicans are divided among hardliners and business-oriented moderates who don’t see immigration as a threat. Democrats want a path to citizenship for people living in the country illegally, which many Republicans deride as “amnesty.”