Deadline arrives for immigrant family reunification

The Trump administration faces a court-imposed deadline Thursday to reunite thousands of children and parents separated at the U.S. southern border after crossing into the country illegally. Authorities have identified 2,551 children age 5 and older who may be covered by the order. As of Tuesday, 1,012 parents had reunified with their children, and hundreds of other parents had been cleared and were just waiting on transportation. Still hundreds more children remained whose parents already were deported.

For the last two weeks, children have arrived steadily at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement locations in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico to reunite with parents. Faith-based and other groups have provided meals, clothing, legal advice, and plane and bus tickets. Parents are typically equipped with ankle-monitoring bracelets and given court dates before an immigration judge.