{"id":606297,"date":"2018-07-23T17:59:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T23:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=606297"},"modified":"2018-07-24T07:45:36","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T13:45:36","slug":"as-deadline-approaches-reunification-remains-uncertain-for-hundreds-of-migrant-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/as-deadline-approaches-reunification-remains-uncertain-for-hundreds-of-migrant-families\/","title":{"rendered":"As deadline approaches, reunification remains uncertain for hundreds of migrant families"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mercedes

Eddie Seal \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p>

Mercedes (right), a Salvadoran asylum seeker, is reunited with her daughter, Maria in Corpus Christi on July 13, 2018. The two were separated by U.S. authorities after crossing the Texas-Mexico border in mid-May.<\/p><\/div>\n

After splitting thousands of families at the border, the federal government faces a Thursday court deadline to put them back together. But based on federal officials\u2019 own data \u2014 and their record on reunifications so far \u2014 it would be near impossible to reunite all families by that deadline.<\/p>\n

On June 26, a federal judge in California gave the government a month to reunite children ages 5\u201317 with parents separated from them at the border. But with just three days to go, only 879 reunifications have taken place, leaving nearly 1,700 children in that age group still waiting, according to government data filed Monday.<\/p>\n

538 more parents have been cleared to be reunified with their children, meaning reunification is likely. All told, that\u2019s significant progress since the government\u2019s last update on Friday, when just 450 reunifications<\/a> for the age group had taken place.<\/p>\n

Still, the circumstances remain murky for more than 1,000 other parents. There are 217 parents squarely in the \u201cmaybe\u201d category because they have already been released into the United States, making them more difficult for government officials to locate. And 917 have been deemed \u201cineligible\u201d for reunification or likely ineligible based on a host of factors, such as prohibitive criminal records or the vague need for \u201cfurther evaluation.\u201d In more than half of those cases, the parents are not in the United States, suggesting they may already have been deported.<\/p>\n