In a court document filed on Monday, the Trump administration said that “463 parents of migrant children are no longer present in the United States.” According to the Washington Post , the document was sent to U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw, the judge who initially gave the order to the Trump administration to reunite the migrant families affected by the “zero tolerance” policy that began in April.
Sabraw has said that those cases are “under review” – meaning the total number of those deported without their children could be higher.
“If this number turns out to be as large as the report suggests, this is going to be a big issue for us. We have a lot of questions,” said Stephen Kang, an attorney for the ACLU.
The Trump administration had issued a 30-day deadline to reunite as many migrant families as possible. The administration, who came under fire earlier this month after they returned less than half the children under the age of five that were in the shelters.
In addition to reuniting the families, Trump has also halted the “deportations of families that have been reunited.”
Many “immigrant advocates,” say that migrants were pressured into signing forms that hastened their deportation once they realized their children had been taken to a shelter.
“We have concerns about misinformation given to these parents,” Kang stated, “about their rights to fight deportation without their children.”
Kang added that finding parents who have already been deported will be a difficult process.
But despite this, the Trump administration insists that each person who signed the forms were made aware of what they were signing and what their rights were in their “native tongue.”
Thus far, “the government has reunited 879 parents with their children so far, up from 450 on Friday.” Over 500 have been approved for reunions, which means that “at least half of the separated families will probably be back together by Thursday’s deadline.”
The cases of those who had children under the age of five were prioritized, based on a court order. Now, the government is working to process reunions for those between the ages of five and seventeen.
The process for reunification is lengthy. First, the parents or relatives must face background checks, and the government will “confirm familial relationships.” Then, the relatives are interviewed and asked if they want their children to be reunited with them before anything else happens.
So far, over 100 people have decided not to reunite with their children so their kids could stay in America with a relative while they address their own immigration appeals.
