The Trump administration Friday night announced plans to reunite more than 2,500 children aged five and over with their families after they were separated at the border. This comes after officials missed a deadline this week to return children under age five to their parents.
Six-year-old Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid walked out of a Houston airport, hand in hand with her mother. The two were separated a month ago at a border patrol detention facility. Their story was thrust into the spotlight when ProPublica captured the girl’s plea for her aunt inside the facility.
CBS News could not confirm the authenticity of the audio, but it sparked outrage.
More than 1,600 miles away in New York, Yeni Gonzalez Garcia, a Guatemalan mother separated from her children at the border in May, was given temporary custody. The children ages 6, 9 and 11 were all smiles as they came back together as a family.
“I want to be with her, it was a long time I wasn’t with her and I miss her a lot,” said Yeni Gonzalez Garcia’s daughter.
Yeni Gonzalez Garcia, a Guatemalan mother who had been separated from her children, exits the Cayuga Center after being reunited with them in New York City, U.S., July 13, 2018.
BRENDAN MCDERMID / REUTERS
Starting this weekend, the government hopes more of these scenes will play out. A new plan will process 200 children aged five and older per day to meet a July 26 court imposed deadline.
In a San Diego federal court, the government outlined their plan to move parents currently detained to one of six to eight immigration facilities. There, they will be interviewed and vetted, while undergoing a criminal background check. The children will then be moved to the same facility as their parents within 24 to 48 hours.
This new plan comes on the heels of a July 10 deadline that was missed by the government to reunify children under the age of five.
This plan aims to process a much larger group of people in a shorter amount of time.
However, some argue it could put children at risk if adults lie about being parents for criminal reasons, such as trafficking. That’s why DNA tests will be preformed in some cases.
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