A judge orders the Trump administration to help lawyers find "missing relatives" of migrant children



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LOS ANGELES – The federal judge supervising the court-ordered reunification of 2,551 migrant children separated from their parents ordered the Trump administration to provide detailed information in order to locate the Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California on Friday ordered the Trump administration to hand over a list of all parents deemed "ineligible" for reunification by the government on Wednesday, including those who were deported, those who were released in the United States and those who were not reunited due to criminal background.

The government said Friday that 650 children remain separated because their parents are ineligible.

The ruling was a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union, which had argued that the government did not give full information about these parents. In the case of deported or released persons, the ACLU has offered to provide pro-bono lawyers to help locate parents whose whereabouts are unknown and to provide them with legal advice

"L & # 39; order of the judge requiring the government to provide us with information about the missing or expelled parents leave no doubt that the court expects the remaining reunifications to be made quickly, "said the lawyer. from the ACLU, Lee Gelernt

. Before the judgment, the Department of Homeland Security said that the reunification of about 1,440 children with their parents – about half of the total – had been set for Friday But the department did not commit to convene those whose parents are judged to be ineligible, citing "red flags" in their antecedents, signed waivers to expel their children or leave the ICE custody to expel or wait for a hearing in the interior of the States -United.

  Image: Judge Dana Sabraw
Judge Dana Sabraw U.S. District Court

In court, Scott Stewart, the government's lawyer, argued to the judge that detailed information would actually hinder reunification.

"I would be just concerned about the data collection efforts that hinder reunification.

Sabraw is expected to issue a separate order as early as Monday on a temporary seven-day ban on eviction for reunited families, which the government said Friday that there are about 1,000

in the US. Together, the government reunited around 1820 children with their parents or entrusted them to other family members or sponsors, government lawyers told Sabraw Friday

Jacob Soboroff reported from Los Angeles and Julia Ainsley reported from San Francisco. [ad_2]
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