Parents can't be found for 545 children separated by U.S. border policy
CGTN
A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas, June 12, 2018. /CFP

A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas, June 12, 2018. /CFP

The parents of 545 migrant children who were separated under U.S. border policy cannot be located, according to a court filing on Tuesday.

The separations were carried out in relation to U.S. President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy toward migrants who illegally crossed the border.

"Through our litigation, we just reported to the court that the parents of 545 kids – forcibly separated by the Trump administration's cruel family separation practice – still cannot be found," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tweeted.

Under the zero tolerance program, the U.S. began separating children from their parents in May 2018, prompting a domestic and international outcry.

Then, six weeks into the practice Trump announced that his administration would stop separating families unless the parents posed "a risk" to their child.

CNN reported that two-thirds of the parents who cannot be found are believed to have been deported.

Children whose mothers and fathers have yet to be located were separated under a 2017 pilot program ahead of the zero tolerance policy, and were deported, NBC News reported.

"It is critical to find out as much as possible about who was responsible for this horrific practice while not losing sight of the fact that hundreds of families have still not been found and remain separated," Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, was quoted by NBC as saying.

"There is so much more work to be done to find these families."

The search for the children's parents has now resumed, as the global coronavirus pandemic briefly hampered the search work.

(With input from agencies)