The Department of Health and Human Services has defended its decision to make less stringent the vetting process to reunite thousands of immigrant children with their parents quicker. The government has a deadline of 26 July to reunite as many as 2,551 immigrant minors between the ages of five and 17 with their parents, following their separation at the border after last month’s order by US District Judge, Dana Sabraw.
In a hearing on Friday, the government said it was uncertain that the deadline could be met but announced it was speeding up the vetting process to comply with the ruling. Sabraw said the move was inconsistent with his order and was a failure of the process, The Washington Post reported.
Evelyn Stauffer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, defended the decision to speed up the reunification of families by truncating the vetting process. She said that they have been operating in good faith and attempting to follow the orders given by the court, which they have interpreted to mean does not need to include the usual full process of vetting.
Stauffer added that the department felt it important to share with the court on Friday the opinion that meeting the deadline would result in a truncation of the standard process of vetting in the interest of cooperation and transparency.