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Hundreds of Children Still Separated From Parents at US Border

by Ken Bredemeier

   Hundreds of migrant children, mostly from violence-plagued Central
   American countries, remain separated from their parents at the
   U.S.-Mexico border, as American officials face a court-ordered Thursday
   deadline to reunite them.

   U.S. officials and lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are
   appearing again Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San
   Diego, California, to update him on progress in carrying out his order
   to return 2,551 children to their parents who were separated weeks ago
   as they crossed illegally into the United States. They were detained as
   part of President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy to stop
   illegal migration into the U.S. at the Mexican border.

   After an international outcry, Trump halted the breakup of families,
   most of them from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. "It's about
   keeping families together while ensuring we have a powerful border,"
   Trump said at the time.

   But Trump's order ending the separation of children from their parents
   left government officials unprepared to deal with the reunification of
   families where children had already been split from their parents. In a
   report to Sabraw on Monday, the U.S. said it has reunited 1,187
   children with their families or other relatives.

   But U.S. officials said 463 parents of children aged five and older are
   not in the United States anymore, an indication they may have already
   been deported without their children. The government said the number is
   being reviewed but has maintained that those deported willingly left
   without their children. However, immigrant activists have questioned
   whether those leaving the United States fully understood what they were
   agreeing to.

   In all, the government says 879 families have been reunited.

   Another 538 parents are in government custody and cleared for
   reunification with their children but are awaiting transportation.

   Of the 2,551 separated children, 1,634 have been cleared for potential
   reunification, with nearly 200 ineligible for one reason or another.
   About 260 cases are under review. More than 460 are believed to have
   left the U.S.

   Of the parents still in the U.S., about 900 are facing deportation. But
   Sabraw has temporarily blocked sending them back to their homelands as
   he weighs whether to give them time to consider their options once they
   have been reunited with their children.