On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to adhere to the previously issued deadline to have dozens of immigrant minors reunited with their parents by the day’s end and rejected a request for more time by the Justice Department.
District Judge, Dana Sabraw, was the person responsible for ordering the reunion of almost 3,000 immigrant minors with their parents after federal immigration authorities had separated them. She then went on to ask an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer to prepare a punishment proposal in the event that the government fails to meet the deadline to have the first round of immigrant families reunited by the end of the day. Sabraw said his orders were not goals to be aspired to but firm deadlines that had to be met.
Sarah Fabian, a lawyer for the Justice Department, says that DNA tests, carried out on 16 children and parents, may not confirm their relationship until Wednesday, but Sabraw refused to budge, saying that the government needs to be cognizant of the deadline and that he expects the tasks to be provided by the close of the day. 63 children under the age of five should be reunited by the end of Tuesday, according to Sabraw.
Around 3,000 other minors, some of whom have more complex cases, including parents facing non-immigration criminal charges or who may be a danger to their child, have been ordered to be reunited by 26 July.