Federal Judge Rejects Trump Administration’s Request to Delay Migrant Children Reunions

A federal judge Friday night turned down the Trump administration’s request for an extension on the court-mandated deadlines to reunite migrant children with their families. Amid widespread outrage over family separations at the border last month, the government was given a deadline of July 10 to reunite children under 5 with their parents and July 26 for all others. Justice Department lawyers had argued that the deadline would not provide sufficient time to reunite 101 children under the age of 5 with their families, but U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw was not swayed. In a ruling late Friday, Sabraw said “the government must reunite them” despite the difficulties involved. “It must comply with the time frame unless there is an articulable reason,” Sabraw said. Sabraw also ordered the administration to provide a list of the 101 children in question to the American Civil Liberties Union by Saturday afternoon.