Trump Administration Should Reunite Migrant Families In 3 Months Not 2 Years -Rights Group

Faizan Hashmi Published April 17, 2019 | 12:30 AM

A court hearing on a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration request for two years to reunite separated illegal immigrant children with parents will feature a counter-claim that reunification can be accomplished in just three months, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a press release on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2019) A court hearing on a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration request for two years to reunite separated illegal immigrant children with parents will feature a counter-claim that reunification can be accomplished in just three months, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a press release on Tuesday.

"We're arguing in court today that the administration can identify every family it separated within three months - that is, if they make it a priority," the release said. "The government swiftly gathered resources to tear families apart. It must do the same to fix the damage."

The hearing involves a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in Federal district court in the US state of California, which ended a so-called "zero tolerance policy" of prosecuting all adult illegal immigrants arrested on the southwest border after first separating children and placing them with relatives or in foster homes throughout the United States.

Earlier in April, the Trump administration said one to two years would be needed to reunite 47,000 children who had been separated prior to the spring of 2018, when a more than 2,000 children were removed from families.

A US federal district court in California first ordered the children returned to parents and later extended the ruling children separated beginning in July 2017, when the policies were first implemented, but not publicly reported.

Since the revised order now applies to about 47,000 children, who have since been discharged from US custody and placed in homes, the Trump administration argued that up to two years would be needed to track down those affected.