By Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff for NBC News
WASHINGTON - Attorneys appointed by a federal judge to identify migrant families who were separated by the Trump Administration said they have yet to locate the parents of 545 children and that about
two-thirds of these parents were deported to Central America without their children
, according to documents filed in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The Trump Administration instituted a zero tolerance policy in 2018 that separated migrant children from their parents at the southern border of the United States.
Later, the Administration confirmed that
it had actually started separating families since 2017 under a pilot program
in certain parts of the border.
[Reuniting thousands of migrant families will take up to two years, say government lawyers]
The ACLU and other probono law firms, who work without earning an income, were tasked with finding members of separated families during that pilot program.
Jeff Sessions prompted the separation of children from their parents at the border in 2018, according to an investigation
Oct. 7, 202000: 32
Unlike the
2,800 families separated under the zero tolerance policy in 2018
, most of whom remained in custody when it was terminated by executive order, many of the more than 1,000 parents separated from their children under the pilot program had already been deported before a federal judge in California ordered them found.
"It is critical to find out as much as possible who was responsible for this horrific practice, without losing sight of the fact that
hundreds of families have yet to be found and remain separated,
" said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the Children's Rights Project. ACLU immigrants.
"Much work remains to be done to find these families."
[Judge Barrett refuses to condemn the separation of migrant families at the border: "It is an intense political debate"]
"People ask when we will find all these families and sadly, I can't give an answer. I just don't know. But we won't stop looking until we find each one of them, no matter how long it takes. The tragic reality is that Hundreds of parents were deported to Central America without their children, who remain here with host families or distant relatives ”.
The ACLU and other organizations that are part of a court-appointed "steering committee" learned that
more than 1,000 families were separated in 2017
, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security.
Of them, they have been able to contact the parents of more than 550 children and believe that about 25 have the possibility of returning to the United States to be reunited.
The group
Justice in Motion
(Justice Movement
) is seeking to separated parents in Mexico and Central America
.
[Trump Administration calls for more time to reunite separated children and parents at the border]
"While we have already located many deported parents, there are hundreds more we are still trying to locate," the group said in a statement.
“It is an arduous and time-consuming process even when things are going well.
During the pandemic, our team of human rights defenders took special measures for their own safety and protection, as well as that of parents and their communities ”.
A separate 2018 court order
ordered the Trump Administration to reunite separated families
under the zero tolerance policy.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Note translated for Noticias Telemundo by Luis Antonio Hernández.