Tuesday, 17 states including Washington, New York, and California, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the separation of immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexican border.

In the first legal challenge by states over the Trump Administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy the states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The 17 states involved in the lawsuit are Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

This story will be updated once more information is available.

The post 17 states sue Trump administration over separation of families at the border appeared first on 850 WFTL. </s> (Reuters) – A federal judge yesterday ruled that U.S. immigration agents could no longer separate immigrant parents and children caught crossing the border from Mexico illegally, and must work to reunite those families that had been split up in custody.

United States District Court Judge Dana Sabraw granted the American Civil Liberties Union a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed over the family separations.

More than 2,300 migrant children were separated from their parents after the Trump administration began a “zero tolerance” policy in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who crossed the border illegally, including those traveling with children.

The ACLU had sued on behalf of a mother and her then 6-year-old daughter, who were separated after arriving last November in the United States to seek asylum and escape religious persecution in Democratic Republic of Congo.

While they were reunited in March, the ACLU is pursuing class-action claims on behalf of other immigrants.

Trump issued an executive order to end the family separations on June 20, but the government has yet to reunite about 2,000 children with their parents.

Before the preliminary injunction ruling, the U.S. government urged Sabraw not to require that it stop separating and quickly reunite migrant families after they illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, saying President Donald Trump’s executive order last week “largely” addressed those goals. </s> A judge in the US state of California has ordered the Trump administration to direct border authorities to reunite within the next 30 days migrant children and their families separated at its southern border with Mexico.

If the children are younger than five years old, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order, the order issued late on Tuesday said

US District Judge Dana Sabraw in the city of San Diego issued the order following a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The lawsuit involves a seven-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Sabraw also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit.

She also criticised the Trump administration's policy "a chaotic circumstance of the government's own making".

"The practice of separating these families was implemented without any effective system or procedure for tracking the children after they were separated from their parents," Sabraw said.

The ACLU also noted that the current crisis unfolding is "driven by the view that immigrants and asylum seekers deserve nothing but cruelty and punishment".

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters.

Widespread outrage over the issue forced US President Donald Trump to issue an executive order to stop the separation of families, and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

In a separate development, 17 states, including California, Washington and New York are suing to force the Trump administration to reunite families who have been separated at the US-Mexico border.

The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, DC, on Tuesday, in filing the lawsuit in the US District Court in Seattle, the first legal challenge by states over the practice.

In Texas, the chief executive of the nation's largest shelters for migrant youths says he's "ready now" to start reuniting hundreds of children with their parents.

Juan Sanchez of the non-profit Southwest Key Programs spoke to the Associated Press news agency just hours before the order of the California court.

Earlier, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it would take.

He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Sanchez said he opposed the family-separation policy, but for the sake of the children, he felt his organisation needed to take them in. </s> Seventeen US states and Washington DC are suing Donald Trump's administration over its family separation policy at the US border.

The lawsuit was filed by 18 Democratic attorneys general and attempts to force the administration to reunite the approximately 2,000 separated children with their families.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement the policy to detain children away from parents was a “heartless political manoeuvre".

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Though Mr Trump signed an executive order last week declaring that families would no longer be separated upon illegal entry into the US, the lawsuit stated the executive order is "so vague and equivocal that it is unclear when or if any changes will actually be made".

The order did not reverse or end the underlying "zero tolerance" policy announced by Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general.

Families can also now be indefinitely detained and the policy still makes seeking asylum in the US a crime. US immigration law states people wanting the protected status must enter the country before applying for it.

The order stated that "family unity" will be maintained "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources".

“Child internment camps in America...the Trump Administration has hit a new low. President Trump’s indifference towards the human rights of the children and parents who have been ripped away from one another is chilling,” Mr Becerra said.

The lawsuit claims the implementation of the policy was "motivated by animus and a desire to harm” and said it is unconstitutional.

Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia joined the complaint which was filed in the US District Court, Western District of Washington, in Seattle.

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Parents are still being detained, sometimes thousands of miles from their children who were moved as far away as New York and Michigan, and neither the Department of Health Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement - in charge of the child detention centres - nor the Department of Homeland Security have announced a concrete reunification plan.

The lawsuit alleged that parents are being denied due process and their right to seek asylum after fleeing rampant gang violence in their home countries.

Another lawsuit was brought by an immigrant rights group in Seattle as well after approximately 70 families from South Asia were separated upon entering the country to seek asylum.

For several days leading up to the executive order Mr Trump and his administration - in various stages - denied that families were being separated, called it "biblical" to enforce to US immigration law, and falsely blamed Democrats for the continuation of separating children, sometimes as young as four months old, from families.

Shape Created with Sketch. ‘Families belong together’ protests over Trump immigration policy Show all 8 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. ‘Families belong together’ protests over Trump immigration policy 1/8 Mishawaka, Indiana AP 2/8 Washington DC AFP/Getty Images 3/8 New York Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks in Tornillo, Texas alongside the many other US mayors who have called for detained immigrant children to be reunited with their families AP 4/8 Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kelle leaves a teddy bear as a gift for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 5/8 Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti leave sandals as gifts for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 6/8 San Diego, California EPA 7/8 US embassy, Mexico City AFP/Getty Images 8/8 San Diego, California EPA 1/8 Mishawaka, Indiana AP 2/8 Washington DC AFP/Getty Images 3/8 New York Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks in Tornillo, Texas alongside the many other US mayors who have called for detained immigrant children to be reunited with their families AP 4/8 Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kelle leaves a teddy bear as a gift for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 5/8 Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti leave sandals as gifts for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 6/8 San Diego, California EPA 7/8 US embassy, Mexico City AFP/Getty Images 8/8 San Diego, California EPA

Mr Trump and his surrogates also claimed the policy was aimed at taking children away from potential human traffickers.

However, there is no US immigration law or court precedent that compelled the federal government to separate families. It was only due to Mr Sessions' policy announced in May 2018 that parents and guardians entered the US criminal justice system, therefore making it impossible for their children to accompany them.

Immigrants' rights activists, thousands of protesters, Democrats, all the living former first ladies and even some Republicans were harsh in their criticism of Mr Trump and the policy.

Former First Lady Laura Bush said it was "cruel" and Senator Lindsey Graham called it "a mess".

Mr Trump's response was to wrongfully claim he did not have unilateral power to end the policy.

He said the day of the order signing: “The dilemma is that if you’re weak, if you’re weak, which some people would like you to be, if you’re really, really pathetically weak, the country’s going to be overrun with millions of people.

"And if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart. That’s a tough dilemma. Perhaps I would rather be strong, but that’s a tough dilemma." </s> McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn’t want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

The lawsuit in San Diego involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance.”

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

“This is the Trump era,” he said. “We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on — so does this group — and we’re on the side of police, and we’re on the side of the public safety of the American people.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation’s largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez with the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

“It could take days,” he said. “Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don’t know.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn’t nearly enough progress.

“HHS, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they’re doing to tell parents where their kids are,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children — as well as children traveling alone — are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

“The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is “scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done.”

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children’s Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

“Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better,” she said. “But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don’t know where the parent is. They’re just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, ‘Where is my parent?'”

Since calling for an end to the separations, administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants, with the Pentagon drawing up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

At the same time, the administration has asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions’ address.

Outside the U.S. attorney’s office, protesters carried signs reading, “Free the children!” and “Stop caging families.” Clergy members blocked the street by forming a human chain. Police handcuffed them and led them away.

Later, protesters gathered outside the hotel where Sessions gave his speech. As the attorney general’s motorcade arrived, the crowd chanted, “Nazi, go home.”

___

Weissert reported from Harlingen, Texas, and Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington; Elliot Spagat in Brownsville, Texas; Robin McDowell in Austin, Texas; Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California; and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report. </s> McALLEN, Texas — A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn’t want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters – hundreds of miles away, in some cases – under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

The lawsuit in San Diego involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance.”

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

“This is the Trump era,” he said. “We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on – so does this group – and we’re on the side of police, and we’re on the side of the public safety of the American people.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation’s largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez with the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

“It could take days,” he said. “Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don’t know.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn’t nearly enough progress.

“HHS, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they’re doing to tell parents where their kids are,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children – as well as children traveling alone – are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

“The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is “scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done.”

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children’s Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

“Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better,” she said. “But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don’t know where the parent is. They’re just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, ‘Where is my parent?’”

Since calling for an end to the separations, administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants, with the Pentagon drawing up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

At the same time, the administration has asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions’ address.

Outside the U.S. attorney’s office, protesters carried signs reading, “Free the children!” and “Stop caging families.” Clergy members blocked the street by forming a human chain. Police handcuffed them and led them away.

Later, protesters gathered outside the hotel where Sessions gave his speech. As the attorney general’s motorcade arrived, the crowd chanted, “Nazi, go home.” </s> Los Angeles: US judge has ordered that migrant families separated at the border with Mexico under President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy be reunited within 30 days.



 For children under five, reunification must take place within two weeks of the order issued Tuesday by US District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego.

Sabraw made the sternly worded decision in response to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a seven-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.The judge also issued an injunction against any more family separations, which was part of a policy under which anyone crossing the border illegally is detained and referred for criminal prosecution.US federal authorities have 10 days to allow parents to call their children if they are not already in touch with them, the judge said.Trump last week signed an executive order halting his government's practice of taking children away from parents who cross the border without papers, even to seek asylum. Many are destitute people fleeing gang violence and other turmoil in Central America.It was a rare retreat for Trump, who has made fighting immigration -- both illegal and legal -- one of the most sacred mantras of his fiercely US-centered policy agenda.But the order made no specific provisions for families already separated under the policy, which sparked heated criticism in America and worldwide as inhumane and even a form of child abuse.More than 2,000 children taken from their families remain under the care of federal authorities. Some are just toddlers, or even infants.The ACLU argued that the administration has no real plan for reuniting families.Every night small children "are crying themselves to sleep wondering if they will ever see their parents again," said ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt.Now, the policy of detaining parents who cross illegally with children has been suspended, with authorities saying that among other factors they do not have space for all the families coming over from Mexico.Judge Sabraw was scathing in his criticism of the Trump policy of taking children away from their parents."The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance -- responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government's own making," Sabraw wrote in the 24-page ruling."They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution," the judge added.The attorneys-general of 18 mainly Democratic states also filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the Trump family separation policy.They argued that Trump's order halting the practice has so many caveats it is meaningless. It calls for money to be appropriated to reunite families but does not say how much or by when, and depends on a judge allowing indefinite detention of children, the officials wrote."Keeping children separated from their parents is inhumane, unconscionable and illegal -- and we're filing suit to stop it," wrote Attorney General Barbara Underwood of New York.Some 200 protesters turned out in Los Angeles to protest a visit by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of the most visible faces of the Trump border control policy.Around 20 were arrested after defying police orders to disperse.Trump did score a big win on immigration Tuesday, however, as the US Supreme Court upheld the latest version of his travel ban targeting people from some Muslim-majority countries.By a 5-4 vote, the court's conservative majority said Trump was within his legal authority as president to issue such a ban.Trump pounced on the decision as an endorsement of his authority to defend national security and "a tremendous success and victory for the American people."Immigration has been among the thorniest issue in American politics for decades, with Congress repeatedly failing to pass comprehensive reforms.The House of Representatives intends to vote Wednesday on a broad immigration bill that ends family separations, but passage is in doubt. Should the bill fail, it would be a dramatic embarrassment for Trump's party.Hannah Hanmer, who was protesting with her baby in Los Angeles, said she was angry the government was trying "to remove human dignity from immigrants" arriving with children."I want to be one of the people who said no," the 26-year-old told AFP.(WAH) </s> A little girl and a woman along with other migrant families cross the street after being processed at the Central Bus Station before being taken to Catholic Charities before being removed in McAllen, Texas 26 June 2018. Immigration along the Rio Grande in Texas has become a political issue, due to the controversy surrounding the US Justice Department's suspended 'Zero Tolerance' policy of criminally prosecuting all migrants entering the country illegally and the now-reversed policy of separating migrant children from their parents. EPA-EFE/LARRY W. SMITH ORG XMIT: LWS119

McALLEN, Texas — A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn’t want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

The lawsuit in San Diego involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance.”

More: USA TODAY tracking where separated children sent

More: Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' border prosecutions led to time served, $10 fees

More: The Wall: Explore 2,000 miles between U.S., Mexico

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

“This is the Trump era,” he said. “We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on – so does this group – and we’re on the side of police, and we’re on the side of the public safety of the American people.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation’s largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez with the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

“It could take days,” he said. “Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don’t know.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn’t nearly enough progress.

“HHS, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they’re doing to tell parents where their kids are,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children — as well as children traveling alone — are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

“The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is “scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done.”

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children’s Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

“Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better,” she said. “But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don’t know where the parent is. They’re just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, ‘Where is my parent?’”

Since calling for an end to the separations, administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants, with the Pentagon drawing up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

At the same time, the administration has asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions’ address.

Outside the U.S. attorney’s office, protesters carried signs reading, “Free the children!” and “Stop caging families.” Clergy members blocked the street by forming a human chain. Police handcuffed them and led them away.

Later, protesters gathered outside the hotel where Sessions gave his speech. As the attorney general’s motorcade arrived, the crowd chanted, “Nazi, go home.” </s> A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn't want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

The lawsuit in San Diego involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

"The administration's practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. "Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can't forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance."

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

"This is the Trump era," he said. "We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on — so does this group — and we're on the side of police, and we're on the side of the public safety of the American people."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation's largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez with the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

"It could take days," he said. "Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don't know."

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn't nearly enough progress.

"HHS, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they're doing to tell parents where their kids are," Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children — as well as children traveling alone — are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

"The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated," Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is "scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done."

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children's Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

"Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better," she said. "But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don't know where the parent is. They're just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, 'Where is my parent?'"

Since calling for an end to the separations, administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants, with the Pentagon drawing up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

At the same time, the administration has asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions' address.
Eighteen attorneys general, representing seventeen U.S. states and Washington DC, sue the Trump administration over migrant family separations at the U.S. border with Mexico. The litigants demand around 2,000 migrant children be reunited with their families.