More than 300 migrant children reunited with parents

The Trump administration on Thursday said it has reunited 364 migrant children between the ages 5 and 17 and their parents, leaving hundreds to go a week before a court-imposed deadline. The Justice Department last week said in a court filing it identified 2,552 children who may fall under the court order. Officials have identified 1,606 of their parents, and interviewed and cleared 848 of them to reunite with their children. The document stated that 679 parents still need “further evaluation,” while 272 of them are yet to be interviewed. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw had ordered the Trump administration to complete the reunifications for children younger than 5 by July 10 and the rest by next Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security extended special temporary protected status granted to more than 500 Somali migrants until at least March 2020. The migrants received the status in 1991 after the collapse of the authoritative regime of Siad Barre. Homeland Security has already ended similar programs for Haiti, Nicaragua, Nepal, and Sudan.