CRISIS

Trump Administration Creates Task Force to Reunite Migrants

A branch of the Health and Human Services Department tasked with handling public health disasters reportedly set it up.

The Trump administration has moved to create an “unaccompanied children reunification task force” amid mounting public outrage over the hundreds of migrant children taken from their families at the U.S. border, Politico reports. As of Friday, when the task force was established, a U.S. official said 500 of the more than 2,300 children separated had been reunited. Those children had reportedly never left Customs and Border Protection custody, however, while hundreds of others were turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services. The task force was reportedly set up by a branch of HHS that deals with public health disasters, a sign the agency’s refugee office may have been seen as ill-equipped to handle the matter. “Secretary [Alex] Azar is bringing to bear all the relevant resources of the department in order to assist in the reunification or placement of unaccompanied alien children and teenagers with a parent or appropriate sponsor,” an HHS spokesperson told Politico. The move comes after Democrats on Thursday demanded a government audit of the department's process for tracking separated migrants.