Washington - The US government said Thursday it had reunited
all eligible children under age 5 with their parents after their
separation at the US-Mexico border caused an international uproar.
The government, which is under court order to reunite thousands of
children separated from their parents under its "zero-tolerance"
policy, said 57 had been reunited as of 7am (1200 GMT) Thursday.
The remaining 46 in the group were ineligible for a variety of
reasons, including having parents suspected of abuse, according to a
joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice
Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The government is under pressure to reunite the children under a
court order issued on June 26.
The zero-tolerance policy required their separation after they
attempted to cross illegally over the US-Mexico border.
The Trump administration initiated the policy in April as a tactic
against illegal migration. But my mid June, when the government
admitted that more than 2,000 children had been separated while their
parents were held in detention awaiting court dates, the
administration came under pressure to rescind it.
President Donald Trump responded by signing an executive order to
keep migrant families together after they cross the US-Mexico border.
The June 26 court order gave the government one month to reunite all
children affected by the policy, but set a tighter deadline of 14
days for reuniting children under age 5.
The government initially failed to meet that deadline on Tuesday,
saying it had reunited only four of the young children with their
parents.