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A federal judge Tuesday, however, showed himself rather satisfied with the government's efforts to meet its deadline, turning to the 2,000 to 3,000 families that will have to be reunited later in the month.
By the end of the afternoon Tuesday, four children of 102 identified by the deadline had already been reunited with their parents, and another 34 were to be reunited by the end of the day, according to the report. # 39; administration. That was less than the 54 children the federal government had previously reported being reunited before the deadline.
Children who are addressed before the Tuesday deadline are all under 5 years old and have been held by the government for weeks or months after separated from their parents at the border.
The judge instructed the government The lawyers and lawyers of the American Civil Liberties Union representing immigrants in the case to discuss the remaining cases to ensure that they are d & # 39; # 39; agreement. Any contentious situation – including whether the ACLU does not believe that a criminal story is accurate, for example – must be referred to the judge in a status update application scheduled for Thursday.
Also on Thursday: information on the number of thousands of children ages 5 and older remains to be gathered before its next deadline, July 26.
Sabraw has set another hearing for Friday.
"obligation" of the government
Tuesday's hearing was also prospective, as Sabraw was siding with the ACLU on how to treat families who were progressing [19659019]. the government's obligation to reunite the families that he had separated, and therefore the full procedure that he would use for the children in his care who arrived in the United States should not be allowed # 39; apply.
"The idea of an application process does not fit in this context: the parent has the right to be reunified and it is the government's obligation to to do, "he said
. I have to prove that they are good sponsors for their own kids.
The government and the ACLU disagreed on several procedural steps for the reunification of parents. Ranging on the side of the ACLU largely, Sabraw said the government should test DNA only when necessary – either because of time constraints or lack of a written record .
plan "should not be required until parents recover their children.
" Parents do not apply, they do not have to prove that they will be a good sponsor ", Said Sabraw: "The government must ask if the parent is unfit or dangerous."
He also noted that parents who are already deported can be a "big problem", asking lawyers on both sides to look into question of how to handle these meetings in their filing later this week.
"This is going to be a big problem," says Sabraw, "because if we have 12 out of 101 or 102, when we look at the next 2,800, 2,900 people, I suppose there will be
The government defends its practices
In a previous call with journalists, officials of the Ministry of Health and Social Services as well as Immigration and Customs have been defended. the slowness of family reunification, citing a number of criminal records and other problems that were raised when they checked with parents to meet the deadline of today
"Our The process may not be as fast as some would like, but there is not, "said Chris Meekins, chief of staff at the Office of the Undersecretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS. "Let me be clear, HHS could have transferred all children out of ORR care to a parent who is currently detained by the DHS if we do not consider child safety or if the adult is really parent. "
HHS was not paying attention, and had simply reunited all the children without a check, "we entrust them to a rapist, a kidnapper, a child molester and somebody who is accused of To be a murderer in their home country. 19659002] Court documents and the appeal noted that, in the case of a child, for example, another adult at home had a history of sexual abuse on a 10 year old girl. But the parent will be allowed to choose a different life situation and then apply again to be reunited with his child.
As for parents who can not be located, the government indicated that the fault lies with the parent
. "There are a very large number of illegal aliens here in the country A parent who has been released … still has the ability to go to HHS and ask to sponsor their child out of custody HHS "said Matthew Albence, Deputy Director Ice Application and Removal Operations. "It happens every day, so if these people choose not to do it, there is nothing we can do to force them, and that makes me doubt that they were the parents."
Catherine E. Shoichet of CNN Laura Jarrett contributed to this report.
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