Kids’ new ordeal
Fam unification stalls – 48 tots still in limbo
A federal judge Monday gave the Trump administration more time to reunite 102 migrant children younger than 5 with their parents, as the government scrambles to bring together families shattered by its “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
California Judge Dana Sabraw, who ruled last month that the administration must reunite the separated migrant families, granted the extension after Justice Department lawyer Sarah Fabian said she expected only about 54 of the kids will be returned to their parents by the original Tuesday deadline.
Fabian said the government was still working on background checks and confirming the relationships between some of the adults and children in its custody. Adding to the difficulty, some of the kids' parents have already been deported.
Fabian said 54 children will be joined with their parents by the end of Tuesday at locations across the country, and that another five were undergoing final background checks.
One child has not been matched with a parent, Fabian said. The ACLU identified him as a 3-year-old boy.
The feds revealed for the first time the families will be set free in the U.S. pending the outcome of their immigration cases, which can take several years. Fabian didn't say why they were being released, but the zero tolerance policy at the border has resulted in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement running out of space to hold families.
Sabraw did not immediately set a new deadline for reuniting the rest of the families, but ordered Fabian and American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt back in court Tuesday morning for an update. The judge recognized that some cases “will necessitate additional time.”
More than 3,000 children were separated from their undocumented parents at the country's southern border after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced zero tolerance in April, the government says.
President Trump reversed course on June 20 amid an international outcry and signed an executive order permitting families to remain together in custody. But the fate of many of those already separated is still a mystery.
The ACLU successfully sued the Trump administration over the family-shattering practice on June 26, and Sabraw subsequently set a Tuesday deadline for the government to reunite all families with kids younger than 5 and a July 26 deadline for all other cases.
Before the hearing Monday in San Diego Federal Court, Gelernt noted that his organization could ask the judge to fine or sanction the government for failing to meet the deadline.
But Gelernt said he wasn't planning on doing that.
“At this point what we need is very specific, concrete steps,” he said, adding the children “have already suffered so much because of this policy, and every extra day apart just adds to that pain.”
Meanwhile, a Los Angeles federal judge rejected a Trump administration push to indefinitely detain illegal immigrant families in longterm facilities.
Judge Dolly Gee said the government's request was a “cynical attempt” to undo a longstanding court settlement that bars the long-term detention of immigrant families who illegally cross the border.
The Department of Justice did not say if it would appeal.