SLOW PROGRESS

Four Migrant Kids Reunited With Parents Before Court Deadline

Another 36 parents were expected to be reunited with their children by the end of the day.

The Trump administration has reunited four migrant families before the court-imposed July 10 deadline, and has plans to reunite an additional 34 parents with their children before the day’s end. The New York Times reports that the families were just some of the 102 children under the age of five that were supposed to be reunited by the deadline after being separated at the southern border due to the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policies. According to a Department of Homeland Security release, one child was not eligible for reunification because the parent’s whereabouts have been “unknown for more than a year” and “records show the parent and child might be U.S. citizens.” Officials told the Times that all families are being released with “ankle monitors to make sure they appeared at scheduled court hearings on their immigration cases.” Some reunited families have also been put on a plane back to Guatemala, according to the country’s vice minister of foreign relations. A California federal judge imposed the Tuesday deadline for all 102 families, but the agencies responsible for reunification have met roadblocks slowing the identification and verification process for each family.