What we covered here
- The deadline: More than 700 children were not reunited with their families by the 6 p.m. ET deadline.
- No timeline: The government has offered no timeline for tracking down the hundreds of parents who remain unaccounted for.
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Today’s the deadline to reunite separated families
19 Posts
Our live coverage has ended. Go here or scroll through the posts below to read more about the deadline.
Government offers no timeline for tracking down parents still separated from children
The government has offered no timeline for tracking down hundreds of parents who remain unaccounted for – a large number of whom are likely to have already been deported to their home countries with no easy way to get in touch with them.
The government declared the deadline was met, saying 711 families were ineligible – either because they had red flags that prevent reunification or because they could not be located in time for the deadline. The number includes…
- 431 children with parents who are no longer in the US, likely those who were deported.
- 94 children had parents whose locations were under review.
- 79 children whose parents were released from government custody into the US and could not be reunited.
- 46 children who had a parent with a red flag for another reason.
- 21 children whose parents had red flags in their background checks.
- 20 children whose parents declined to be reunited.
- 7 children were impacted by a separate court case.
The number does not add up to 711 because of some overlap, though the filing didn’t specify where the overlaps occurred.
Families who have been reunited so far are said to be traumatized
Lawyer Leah Chavla said she counseled reunited families in one detention center.
Parents are “disoriented and overwhelmed” from the rapid reunification and transfer process. Many barely know the status of their cases, and sometimes, it is difficult to get basic information from them, she said.
She described one encounter she had with an 11-year-old boy who had recently reunited with his mother:
As for the parents, Manoj Govindaiah, a lawyer with RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, said many showed a level of distrust he had never experienced before in his work.
He showed one father his driver’s license, his bar card and his name in the RAICES database before the man believed who he was, he said.
More than 700 children will remain separated from their parents
As a court-ordered deadline to reunite all families the Trump administration separated at the border elapsed, one in three children still remained away from their parents, with no clear indication when they would be reunited.
According to a court filing, the government has reunited 1,442 families with children aged 5 and older by late Thursday.
The government says an additional 378 children have already been released under “appropriate circumstances,” according to the court filing. This includes…
- Children released to another family member or friend who can care for them.
- Children who were released to parents already out of government custody.
- Those who have turned 18.
But there are more than 700 children still left in government custody, unable to be reunited with their parents any time soon.
The deadline marks the closing of one chapter of the case, in which US District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ruled the government’s practice of separating families for weeks and months at a time was inhumane and unconstitutional.
ACLU: Trump administration is "picking and choosing who is eligible for reunification"
The American Civil Liberties Union just issued a statement about today’s deadline to reunite migrant families separated at the US border.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, accused the Trump administration of “picking and choosing who is eligible for reunification.”
Read Gelernt’s full statement:
Organizations are expecting calls for help from desperate parents after deadline passes
Organizations on the ground are expecting to hear from hundreds of desperate parents, who were deported without their children, after today’s deadline passes, CNN’s Rosa Flores reported.
Their children, she said, are being held in shelters across the US. While they’ve able to talk with their children, their internet or phone signals are often weak.
These "Angry Tias and Abuelas" are protesting in Texas
Protesters rallied in the border town of McAllen, Texas, today as the 6 p.m. deadline for the US government to reunite families separated at the US border nears. Among them is a group called “Angry Tias and Abuelas” — which means aunts and grandmothers.
The group — which started after the Trump administration began its zero-tolerance immigration policy — gathered at a McAllen bus station. There, they helped immigrant families read bus tickets.
Why more than 900 parents won't be reunited with their kids today
The US government faces a 6 p.m. deadline today to reunite all families that were separated at the border under President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.
But as many as 914 parents won’t be reunited with their children this week, the government said.
There are several reasons why:
- In some cases, the parents can’t be found
- Some parents have serious criminal records.
- Other parents have already been deported without their children.
- A small number of parents haven’t even been identified in the federal system — let alone tracked down.
A bunch of kids protested family separations on Capitol Hill
Protesters and their children held a sit-in in the Hart Senate Office Building this morning to mark the court-ordered deadline for the Trump administration to reunify migrant families separated at the border
Many of the children wore shirts that read “I am a child,” and the group put a banner on the ground with the slogan:
No one really knows what will happen if the US misses its deadline today
US officials are scrambling to reunite hundreds of parents and children by the end of the day.
But the big question still lingering is: What happens if the government fails to reunite all families who are eligible for reunification?
The short answer: No one really knows.
The American Civil Liberties Union – which is suing the government on behalf of some families separated at the border – hasn’t requested a specific punishment if officials miss the deadline, which falls at 6 p.m. ET today. The federal judge overseeing the case hasn’t mentioned any specific consequences, either.
But there are some clues on what might happened if we look at the last time the administration missed its deadline:
- The Trump administration missed the July 10 deadline to reunite all eligible families with children under 5 by the end of the day.
- At the time, the judge said the ACLU would be able to suggest any consequences it deemed appropriate. But the ACLU didn’t ask for any punishments.
- The judge seemed mostly satisfied with the government’s efforts to meet his July 10 deadline.
- Two days later, the government said it had finished reuniting 58 eligible families with children under 5.
Kamala Harris: "Their children are our children"
Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, just addressed demonstrators gathered at the US Capitol to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policy that led to family separations.
She said many families that cross the border into the US are simply looking for a better life.
“We have always stood for the promise that we will be someone, we will be that country that will embrace you and protect you when you flee harm,” she said. “So let’s fight for the best of who we are and for the ideals of our county.”
Watch more:
Texas protesters are chanting "the community is furious" in Spanish
A group of protesters has gathered in the border town of McAllen, Texas, where CNN’s Rosa Flores is reporting.
“This literally just popped up moments before our live shot,” she said.
The protesters are carrying flags and signs, and they’re chanting “el pueblo está furioso,” which means “the community is furious,” Flores said.
Watch more:
Mom separated from 7-year-old son describes what their time apart was like
Arely and her 7-year-old son Andy told CNN in a law office here about the tragic experience of being separated and then reunited earlier this week. CNN has withheld their full names because they feared future legal ramifications that could impact their asylum applications.
Arely said that when she was separated from her son, she was not told by any officials whether she’d ever see him again.
She described the rooms she spent time in when she was in Port Isabel — a “cuarto frio” and “la jaula,” an ice box and cage.
While her son was in care in New York City, Arely said she faced conditions such as not being provided toilet paper when she used the bathroom.
Her son added, “They wouldn’t let me go to the bathroom sometimes and when I wanted to eat, they wouldn’t give me food until they wanted to.”
A "mess" is playing out in immigrant detention centers, court filings say
Documents filed in court on Wednesday provide a detailed account of what American Civil Liberties Union attorneys allege is a “mess” playing out at a number of US immigrant detention centers as officials scramble to meet Thursday’s court-ordered deadline to reunite thousands of separated families.
Based on declarations from more than a dozen attorneys who interviewed parents and children from separated families, the court filing alleges that even after they’re reunited, traumatized families are having trouble deciding what to do next.
Here are some of the key allegations the lawyers made:
- Parents felt they signed documents they didn’t understand. Many detained migrants come from parts of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras where indigenous languages are spoken. But lawyers who spoke to detainees said many of them reported receiving forms related to their cases in Spanish or English, languages they don’t understand.
- Parents felt coerced into signing documents. “Many of these individuals indicated that they felt coerced into relinquishing their rights,” one lawyer said. “Still others appeared totally unaware that they had done so.
- Families who have reunited so far are said to be traumatized. Parents are “disoriented and overwhelmed” from the rapid reunification and transfer process. Many barely know the status of their cases, and sometimes, it is difficult to get basic information from them, another lawyer said.
What happens when a parent is given deportation orders
About 900 parents separated from their children at the US border are facing final orders of removal (meaning they deported as soon as the federal judge in the reunions lawsuit lifts a temporary hold he put on deporting separated families.)
So what happens to the kids then?
Once the parent is given an order of deportation, they are presented with a form by the government, offering them to either be deported with their child or without.
Even before the Trump administration deployed a policy that separated those thousands of immigrant families at the US border, immigration attorneys have at times had to inform clients that their children may have stronger claims to stay in the US than they do as a family.
For some families, leaving the child behind is the only way they see to save that child’s life.
SOON: Protesters head to Capitol Hill
Children and families are expected to gather on Capitol Hill soon for a sit-in as the court-ordered deadline for family reunifications approaches.
This isn’t the first protest the Hill has seen on this issue. In June, female activists flooded the Capitol Hill Senate building to protest the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy
In that protest, US Capitol Police arrested approximately 575 individuals with unlawfully demonstrating, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington.
Other Democratic senators — including Tammy Duckworth, Ed Markey, Mazie Hirono, Kirsten Gillibrand and Richard Blumenthal — also visited the protesters to support their efforts.
Why DNA tests were used to identify separated families
DNA tests are being performed on children and parents in an attempt to reunite migrant families separated at the US border, said a federal official with knowledge of the reunifications.
“The safety and security is paramount, and it is not uncommon for children to be trafficked or smuggled by those claiming to be parents,” the official said.
The source could not discuss how long the practice has been taking place, if the testing requires consent or if the DNA is stored in a database.
Why some aid groups were concerned about the practice
RAICES, a nonprofit in Texas that offers free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees, called the move deplorable because collecting such sensitive data would allow the government to conduct surveillance on the children “for the rest of their lives.”
Judge says he expects his deadline will essentially be met
A federal judge this week called progress ahead of his deadline for reunifying families separated at the border “remarkable,” but said he also still finds “deeply troubling” the effects of the government’s original policy that led to most of the separations.
District Judge Dana Sabraw made the comments during a status hearing Tuesday in an ongoing lawsuit over the separations, two days before his deadline for the government to reunite those families.
During the hearing, the government said 1,012 families have already been reunited – over 100 more than had been reunited by Monday evening’s status update.
Sabraw said he expected that his Thursday deadline would essentially be met and he expected to be satisfied by the next hearing Friday.
The US government must reunite separated migrant families today
The US government must reunite all eligible migrant families that it separated at the border today.
But as many as 914 parents won’t be reunited with their children by Thursday’s deadline. In some cases, the parents can’t be found or have serious criminal records. In other cases, they’ve already been deported without their children. A small number still haven’t been linked to children, let alone tracked down.
These are the numbers behind the family reunifications:
- 1,012: The number of families the government has already reunited, officials said at a status hearing Tuesday.
- 463: How many parents the government believes are no longer in the United States. They were likely deported without their children.
- 191: How many parents won’t be reunified with their children because they either have criminal records or declined to be reunified, according to the government.
- 217: The number of parents have been released from federal custody. Some may be wearing ankle monitors as they await immigration hearing proceedings.
- 260: That’s how many parents’ cases require further investigation, the government said Tuesday.
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