Judge to hear how US will reunite immigrant families

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Lawyers for the US government will return to a San Diego courtroom on Monday to update a judge about Trump administration plans for meeting a July 26 deadline to reunite 2,500 immigrant children with their parents after separating them at the US-Mexico border.

The hearing before US District Judge Dana Sabraw will be the first since the judge chastised the government on Friday for asserting that pressure from the court to expedite reunifications could put children at risk.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, which has custody of the children, has since submitted a fuller plan for reuniting families by the deadline.

The photo taken on June 17, 2018, shows intake of illegal border crossers by US Border Patrol agents at the Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas. /VCG Photo

The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge a policy of President Donald Trump's administration to separate families as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration. The president ordered the practice stopped on June 20 after widespread public outcry.

Many of the immigrants separated from their children were seeking asylum after fleeing violence and crime in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Children were sent to multiple care facilities across the US, and their parents were incarcerated in immigration detention centers or federal prisons.

Sabraw ordered that the children should be returned to their parents and is overseeing the process.

An immigrant from El Salvador and his 10-year-old son pass the time after being released from detention through "catch and release" immigration policy at a Catholic Charities relief center in McAllen, Texas, June 17, 2018. /VCG Photo

The government failed to meet its first court-imposed deadline of July 6 for reuniting all children under five years old with their families, about 100 in total. With virtually all of the approximately 60 children under the age of five deemed eligible for reunification now back with their families, attention has turned to those aged five to 17.

A government plan filed with the court on Sunday calls for the Health Department to move the children to eight locations operated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in coming days, possibly requiring round-the-clock hours, according to an operation plan submitted to the judge.

ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement will verify parentage and screen adults to weed out those with serious criminal backgrounds or other issues that could endanger children.

Once verification is complete, parents and children will be reunited.

Source(s): Reuters