On Thursday, the Trump administration announced that it had successfully completed the first round of court-ordered reunifications of families separated upon crossing the US border. It remains to be seen whether the federal judge who gave the order will believe government officials moved fast enough to obey the order.
US District Judge, Dana Sabraw, imposed a series of deadlines for almost 3,000 immigrant children separated from their parents to be reunited by the Trump administration, primarily because of the zero-tolerance policy pursued by President Donald Trump. The first group, who were all less than five years old, was ordered to have been reunited by Tuesday, and Sabraw threatened to punish the government if they did not comply.
At 7am on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security, which has the majority of the adults in custody, and the Department of Health and Human Services, issued joint statements announcing that 57 immigrant children had been reunited with their parents. 103 such children were being held, but lawyers for the Department of Justice have been in negotiations with Sabraw to make exceptions.
Sabraw conceded that it was not possible to reunite all 103 children and that some of the cases were too complex to be completed by the deadlines he had issued. Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who led a lawsuit over the separations, said he was very happy for the families but recommended the judge punish the government for the delay.