The Trump administration failed to meet a court-imposed deadline Tuesday to reunite all of the children under the age of 5 whom immigration officials took from their parents at the border and then sent to jails and detention centers across the country. Only 38 of the 102 children under 5 have been reunited with their parents, some of whom say their young children did not even recognize them at first after the traumatic, protracted separation.
On Tuesday, Judge Dana Sabraw reiterated that all separated children—3,000 in total—must be reunited with their parents by July 26, saying, “These are firm deadlines; they are not aspirational goals.” Also on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar claimed the United States was acting “generously” toward the migrant children.
Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar: “It is one of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we are doing for these unaccompanied kids who are smuggled into our country or come across illegally.”
Protesters confronted President Trump’s daughter Ivanka in Syracuse, New York, on Monday, chanting, “Shame! Shame!” and “Do you know where their children are?” We’ll have more on family separation after headlines.