July 26 was the deadline by which all immigrant children separated from their families at the southern US border were supposed to be reunited with their families pursuant to a federal court order. There are over 2500 such children but, as of July 27, only 1500 children had been reunited with their families. According to a Washington Post article detailing the status of all the children, 378 of them have been otherwise discharged, meaning they were moved to sponsor households, reunited with family members released into the United States, or they turned 18. The parents of up to 463 children have been deported. The administration contends that all of the deported parents knowingly left their children behind (so that the children had a chance of obtaining asylum) but it has been reported that many parents did not understand they were doing so. See Most Deported Migrants Were Not Asked About Leaving Children Behind, Trump Official Says (Politico, 7/25/18). A court has ordered that the government find these missing parents to ensure that they willingly left their children behind. See Judge Orders Trump Administration to Help Lawyers Find “Missing Parents” of Migrant Kids (NBC, 7/28/18). How Can the Federal Government Reunify Kids with Deported Parents? First Step: Find Them (The Texas Tribune, 7/31/18).
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