The Trump administration says it’s working to speed up the reunification of immigrant families it separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, after it missed Tuesday’s court-imposed deadline of returning 102 children under 5 years old to their parents. As of Wednesday, the administration has reunited just 34 of the children. Among those recently reunited were Javier Garrido Martinez and his 4-year-old son. Martinez spoke to reporters in New York Wednesday.
Javier Garrido Martinez: “I never imagined they would separate me. When I came in, they took my biometrics, and they told me the president changed a couple of laws and the kids were going to be separated. They told me that someone might have adopted my son and that I would never be able to see him again.”
This comes as The Daily Beast reports the Trump administration told immigrant mothers they would have to pay as much as $800 for DNA tests in order to be reunited with their children. And documents obtained by the news site Slate show the Trump administration is planning to draw down funding for HIV/AIDS care to pay for detaining immigrant children.