Trump Admin Requests More Time to Reunite Families Separated at Border

What’s the story?

• The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked a federal judge to extend the court-ordered deadlines for reuniting nearly 3,000 immigrant children with their parents.
• DOJ attorneys argue the government needs more time to verify and vet each parent, and therefore cannot meet the deadline for returning all children under age 5 to their parents by July 10 and all other children by July 26.
• In their response to the court, lawyers for the DOJ said:

"The government does not wish to unnecessarily delay reunification. At the same time, however, the government has a strong interest in ensuring that any release of a child from government custody occurs in a manner that ensures the safety of the child."

Mixed messages as HHS says it will meet deadline

• Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Thursday that the government will meet the court-ordered deadlines—though he, too, criticized the timeline as interfering with a “standard – or even a truncated – vetting process.”

"We will comply with the artificial deadlines created by the court, deadlines that were not informed by the process needed to vet parents, including confirming parentage, as well as confirming the suitability of placement with that parent," said Azar.

• Azar told reporters the government is using DNA testing to match children to their parents.

What do you think?

Should the reuniting of families be done quickly or should it wait for the “standard vetting process”? Or, as some have said, should all of this have been considered before the separations? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: @Kidsimmigration via Twitter)