U.S.: 57 migrant kids back with parents

President Donald Trump's administration says it has reunited 57 of 103 young migrant children with their parents after separations of weeks or months, but won't return another 46 children for reasons that range from concerns about their safety to their parents having been deported.

U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw in San Diego had given federal officials until Tuesday to reunite all children under age 5 who had been separated from their parents or other adults as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

The separations -- which also involve "under 3,000" older children -- have sparked international anger and considerable confusion. Sabraw has given the government until July 26 to reunite the older children with their parents; the government said it would provide a list of those children Thursday to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the class-action lawsuit that led to the judge's ruling.

In a joint statement Thursday morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the government has "worked tirelessly" to reunite children taken from their parents by the government, while also assuring "the well-being of the children and returning them to a safe environment."

"Our message has been clear all along: Do not risk your own life or the life of your child by attempting to enter the United States illegally," the statement said. "Apply lawfully and wait your turn."

The ACLU said the government is in violation of Sabraw's order because it failed to meet Tuesday's deadline. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said the organization would decide Thursday "what remedies to recommend to the court for the non-compliance." A hearing is scheduled this morning.

"If, in fact, 57 children have been reunited because of the lawsuit, we could not be more happy for those families. But make no mistake about it: the government missed the deadline even for these 57 children," Gelernt said.

The ACLU proposed in a court filing Thursday that the administration be monitored closely as a July 26 deadline approaches to reunite more than 2,000 children who are 5 and older with their parents. It asked the judge to require that all parental relations be verified and all background checks be completed by next Thursday. It also wants a daily report on how many families are reunited, starting Tuesday.

The ACLU also proposed that the administration be given no more than a week to reunite 12 young children with their now-deported parents, from whom they were separated at the border. The clock would start ticking as soon as the parent obtains travel documents for the child.

The administration said in its filing that it is difficult to determine how much time is needed and that reunifications should occur "on a flexible schedule."

The officials said 46 of the children were not eligible to be reunited with their parents; a dozen parents had already been deported and were being contacted by the administration. Nine were in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for other offenses. One adult's location was unknown, they said.

Of the deported parents, officials said they had chosen to leave their children behind. One deported father, however, told The Los Angeles Times earlier this week that he didn't realize what he was doing when he signed the paperwork to leave his child behind. It wasn't clear if he was one of the dozen; no names have been made public.

In 22 other cases, adults posed safety concerns, they said. Officials said 11 adults had serious criminal histories including child cruelty, murder or human smuggling. Seven were not determined to be a parent, one had a false birth certificate, one had allegedly abused the child, another planned to house the child with an adult charged with sexually abusing a child.

"The seriousness of the crimes is the reason why we are not going to reunite them," said Matthew Albence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of the 22 cases.

Officials said they are searching for sponsors for children whose parents are ineligible to take custody of them, including another parent, relatives or a legal guardian in the United States.

Officials said they have been unable to locate the parent of one young child in their custody for more than a year.

Earlier this week officials said at least one of the children in their custody might be a U.S. citizen. An update on that case was not immediately available Thursday.

Information for this article was contributed by Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post and Colleen Long of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/13/2018