ACF/HHS/Handout via Reuters
Amid widespread reports of migrant children getting lost in the system after being separated from their families at the U.S. border, the Trump administration on Saturday said it knows the location of all the children in its facilities “and is working to reunite them.” The Department of Homeland Security said in a fact sheet released late Saturday that children held in facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services are given ample opportunity to communicate with their parents or relatives, provided the parents are “vetted.” Of the 2,053 separated minors currently held in HHS facilities, the agency said, 17 percent were placed there under President Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, while 83 percent were deemed to be unaccompanied minors. “There will be a small number of children who were separated for reasons other than zero tolerance that will remain separated: generally only if the familial relationship cannot be confirmed,” the agency said. Immigration advocacy groups have warned that children who travel to the U.S. with family members are routinely deemed “unaccompanied” once the adult they are with is charged for unlawfully entering the country.