Health and Human Services is using DNA to reunite migrant children with parents
Of the 3,000 total children separated from their parents 100 are under the age of 5 and must be reunited by July 10, HHS Secretary Azar says.
Yeni Maricela Gonzalez Garcia (right) stands with Janey Pearl as she speaks with the news media following a visit with her children at the East Harlem Cayuga Centers. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
None of the 3,000 migrant children in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement have yet to be reunited with parents who are in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday.
HHS has not sent children into ICE custody as yet to give officials time to vet their parents or guardians. In two cases, case managers found that the parents had a history of child cruelty, rape and kidnapping, he said.
Azar also announced that HHS is using DNA to confirm biological relationships to meet the court imposed July 10 deadline.
On Friday, the Trump Administration reportedly asked for more time to comply with the court order.
Of the 3,000 total children separated from their parents - and Azar said 3,000 was the upper limit - 100 are under the age of 5.
A June 26 court order gives HHS until Tuesday, July 10 to reunite children under the age of 5 and to Azar's accounting, until Thursday, July 26, to reunite older children with their parents.
"That has not happened yet," Azar said.
Additional personnel, including 100 case managers, are working to meet the deadline.
By court order, HHS must determine when the children were separated, at the border or beforehand.
"We will comply with artificial deadlines set by the court," Azar said, also calling the court's deadline "extreme."
The mission of the Office of Refugee Resettlement is to place minors who are in custody as expeditiously as possible with a parent or legal guardian, he said.
Azar said HHS knows the location of every child and every parent.
Parents and children have direct communication twice a week, he said.
Azar blamed what he called years of Congressional failures to fix immigration policies.
The Trump Administration has come under fire for separating parents and children who cross the border illegally. Last month, President Trump stopped the policy of separating families.
At least a dozen migrant children have been treated at New York hospitals for various health reasons, according to The New York Times. But physicians have described ongoing emotional turmoil these children are enduring.
On June 26, the day of the court order, Azar faced the Senate Finance Committee for what was supposed to be a hearing on drug prices.
Senators grilled Azar on the migrant children issue and when they would be reunited with their parents. Over 80 percent of children in custody cross the Mexican border alone, Azar told the committee.
Children and parents have been reunited for joint-family deportation, Azar said Thursday. Parents have a choice when they are deported as to whether the child goes with them or is to remain in ORR's care, he said.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
