Judge tells Trump officials to reunite immigrant families faster

WASHINGTON — A federal judge told the government Tuesday that it must move faster to reunite children taken from their parents at the southwest border, even as the Trump administration said many separated families aren’t eligible for reunification.

From Michigan to Arizona, some of the youngest children placed in government custody as part of President Donald Trump’s border crackdown were handed over to parents who had been released from detention, given ankle monitors and told to await future deportation proceedings.

A 27-year-old Honduran man who asked to be identified by only his first name, José, said his 3-year-old son didn’t recognize him at first when they were united Tuesday in Phoenix. José said he tried to kiss and hug the boy, but he was stiff and cried inconsolably.

“I asked him if he was upset with me,” José said. “And he just looked at me. He didn’t say anything and then I prodded him and he said, ‘yes.’ It broke my heart.”

Photos and videos posted to Twitter by a reporter for the local ABC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich., showed Ever Reyes Mejia, 30, tightly clutching his curlyhaired 3-year-old after they were reunited at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

“Here, look, we’re going to go in this convertible,” a woman leading them down the sidewalk said in Spanish, according to the videos, as Mejia nuzzled the smiling boy’s cheek. “Look at this car, buddy,” the woman said to the child. “Do you see? OK? You need to sit in this little seat.”

The families were immediately showered with offers of food, shelter, clothing and toys from a legion of volunteers.

But many other parents and children were still awaiting information about when they would be reunited, despite a court order from U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw to return all 102 children ages 4 and younger by Tuesday. Sabraw has said all separated children — a group the government says numbers “under 3,000,” must be reunited with their parents by July 26.

Ricardo de Anda, an immigration lawyer who represents four children under the age of 5 who were being held in Phoenix and New York City, said he had not heard anything from federal officials about reunification plans.

“I’m in touch with all their mothers and nothing has happened,” de Anda said from Laredo, Texas.

The government told Sabraw it would return 38 of the youngest separated children to their parents by Tuesday night, and would reunite more once DNA testing and other checks were complete.