Kids still waiting near deadline

Blumenthal: ‘No plan’ for Trump admin to reunite families they separated

WASHINGTON D.C. — With the clock ticking on a court-ordered deadline to reunite immigrant families, Connecticut lawmakers are accusing the federal government of deliberately slow-walking the process to cover up outright bungling.

“Virtually no separated children have been reunified; no system, no plan, no path to assure reunification; no answers to key questions,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a tweet. The lawmaker said he had just gotten off a conference call with the Department of Health and Human Services, which is the custodian of immigrant children separated from families under President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy.

Although administration officials originally said reunifying parents and children was only a matter of a few computer keystrokes, the reality has proven to be more complicated. Officials

now are struggling with uncertainty about the whereabouts of parents and children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border after entering illegally. Many of the parents have said they were fleeing mounting violence in Central America and seeking asylum in the U.S.

Trump scrapped child family separations in an executive order last month amid international outrage from churches, business leaders and public officials.

Of the roughly 3,000 children who are still split from their families, two reside in Connecticut. Last week, the pair — a 9-yearold girl and 14-year-old boy — filed a lawsuit against the federal government for emotional trauma, demanding to be reconnected with their parents.

So far, the Department of Homeland Security have reportedly reunited 522 children, and that number hasn’t changed for about two weeks. Even after the Trump administration rolled out a plan in late June to reunite families, Connecticut lawmakers cast doubt on the government’s ability to achieve the goal on time.

Two weeks ago, a U.S. District judge in San Diego, Dana Sabraw, ordered the federal government to reconnect immigrant children younger than 5 years old by Tuesday.

But the Department of Justice filed a motion last week seeking an extension. At a court hearing on Monday, government officials said about 50 of the 102 children younger than 5-years-old would be reunited before the July 10 cut-off.

Sabraw, who was appointed by former President George Bush, also ordered the reunification of all children aged 5 to 18 years old by July 26.

Connecticut lawmakers said the reunification scramble is surprising because government departments should have a database of immigrant families to track down separated parents and children.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said officials could have streamlined reunification efforts if the federal government had initially recorded separated families.

“A policy that we instantly knew was impractical is also being shown to be enormously expensive and impractical,” Himes said, referring to Trump’s zero-tolerance policy.

Himes and several other Connecticut lawmakers, including Reps. Elizabeth Esty and Rosa DeLauro, visited the southern border last month to scope out facilities that house immigrant children — a trip prompted by images and soundbites of screaming children in detention centers that captured news headlines.

DeLauro said the lagging process to reconnect immigrant families is “government-sanctioned child abuse” — the result of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy. The Trump administration is failing to meet court deadlines because there is no clear-cut plan to reunite families, she said.

“When you check your coat at a restaurant or your bag at the airport, you get a claim check,” DeLauro said. “There are no claim checks for these children, and that is tragic. These families must be reunified immediately before even more irreversible harm is inflicted.”