Daniel Becerril / Reuters
The Trump administration has reunited 1,012 migrant parents with their children as it heads toward a court-ordered Thursday deadline to reunite 2,500 kids with their families. The number of parents reunited with their children is up from 879 cited by the government Monday. In a Tuesday status conference before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego, the government also said 1,637 parents have been deemed “eligible” for reunification and that almost all of these mothers and fathers are expected to be back with their children by Thursday’s deadline. Sabraw hailed the speed of these reunifications as a “remarkable achievement” and said the government “should be commended on that ground.” But the judge also criticized the feds for losing track of some parents and for separating families in the first place. “Some of this information is unpleasant—the reality of a policy that resulted in a large number of families separated without keeping track of families or people,” Sabraw said. As many as 463 parents whose children remain in custody are no longer in the country, according to government lawyers.