SAN DIEGO _ A federal judge said Friday that he was impressed with the effort to reunify about 2,500 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and that it appeared promising that a very significant number of families would be joined by next Thursday's deadline.
"It appears this process is working, is on track and is on time," U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said during a court hearing.
"There's a lot of work left to do," said August Flentje, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. "We're hoping to get it done. I'm thinking there's going to be some complicated issues that are going to arise next week."
The reunions appear to be proceeding at a good clip for a large group of parents who are in immigration custody, have been vetted as mothers and fathers and have passed background checks.
As of Friday morning, 450 children ages 5 and older had been reunited and 954 parents had been greenlighted.
The complicated issues the government is anticipating involves tracking down parents who've either been previously released into the U.S. _ which is at least 200 _ or deported to their home countries _ a figure that hasn't been released yet. Authorities are also working to confirm the parent-child relationships in an unknown number of situations that have raised red flags.
The judge has ordered the government to use DNA testing as a last resort when necessary.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the class-action lawsuit challenging the family separations, expects to receive detailed lists by Monday of parents who have either been deported, have final removal orders, or have been released into the U.S. interior.
The delay in doing so appears to be caused by the continuing effort to match databases from separate federal agencies _ Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Health and Human Services _ and those of federal and state law enforcement agencies that might have some parents in criminal custody.
The ACLU has asked for the lists so it can help find parents and to make sure those facing imminent deportation have been counseled on their options as families.
About 860 parents already have final removal orders. However, removals of reunited families have been temporarily stopped by the judge until he can consider whether to implement a waiting period between reunification and removal. Briefing on the issue is due on Monday and a hearing to discuss it will occur Tuesday.
Authorities said at least 136 parents so far have told officials in their final interview that they would like to be removed without their child _ likely so the children can pursue their own immigration claims or because the parent has identified a sponsor in the U.S.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt urged the government to provide them with a list of those parents as a priority to make sure they understand their rights.
"The decision they made is fairly momentous to not ever see their child again," Gelernt said.
The government has given little detail about what is happening to families after they are being reunited at one of eight immigration facilities.
Most families who have been reunified have been released on parole at the offices of local social services agencies for assistance, according to the Justice Department. But it is unclear how many. It appears that some parents with final removal orders are being detained with their children upon reunification.
When at least 57 children under age 5 were reunited with their parents under an earlier deadline this month, the families were released into the community on parole.
Sabraw's optimism at the current progress has grown considerably since a week ago Friday, when he asked attorneys to call in for a last-minute status hearing to address a filing by a Health and Human Services official.
The filing portrayed reluctance on the part of the government to carry out a truncated vetting process to reunify families and repeatedly warned that children could be put in danger.
Sabraw said the comments made him question if the government was acting in good faith and he scolded Health and Human Services for seeming to be "operating in a vacuum where they are either not reading the court's orders or they are reading the court's orders and selectively plucking out the provisions it likes and then disregarding the ones it does not like," according to a transcript.
Justice Department attorneys assured Sabraw on the call and during a later hearing that the government understood its duties and were carrying out the judge's orders to reunite families safely and quickly.
