BORDER/CHILDREN/COURTS/IMMIGRATION/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration said Friday [7-6-18] that it may need more time to reunite the immigrant families it separated. The Department of Justice informed a federal judge in San Diego that the administration is in compliance with the judge’s order requiring the end of family separations at the US-Mexico border, except under prescribed conditions, such as the safety of the child, and ensuring communication with separated parents and children as of Friday. But ahead of a hearing in federal district court Friday afternoon, the Justice Department laid out certain challenges in meeting the reunification deadlines of July 10 for children under age 5 and July 26 for children over 5 and said it may request more time. During the hearing, the government said it may not meet the judge’s deadline to reunite families it had separated because officials do not necessarily know the location of every parent. They will reconvene on Monday [7-9-18] morning. At Friday’s hearing, Judge Dana Sabraw asked how many of the approximately 100 children under age 5 the government believes could be reunified by the Tuesday deadline. Sarah Fabian, an attorney for the Justice Department, said of that group, about half of the children have parents in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and for that group, the reunification can occur by the deadline. But about 20% of the kids, she said, have parents who were released from ICE custody…In a breakdown of the roughly 100 possibly separated kids under the age of 5 in custody, Fabian said 19 parents of these children have already been deported.”
–Veronica Stracqualursi, Catherine E. Shoichet and Eli Watkins, “Government says it may need more time to reunite some separated families,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 6, 2018 10:36 am