About 14 percent of children aged 5-17 reunited, US says
The U.S. government said late Thursday that it's reunited about 14 percent of the migrant children aged 5 to 17 separated from their families at the border, as a court-ordered deadline looms less than a week away.
Of the 2,551 children stripped from their parents or family members, 364 have been reconnected, according to the latest statement U.S. Health and Human Services provided to ABC News. Of the 103 children younger than 5, 57 have been reconnected.
The court-ordered deadline to reunite everyone, issued by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, is July 26.
The government said that in the coming days it will provide various lists of parents and children to plaintiffs in the case but admitted they're "still determining" whether they can provide a list of parents in criminal custody.
More than 900 children are either "not eligible or not yet known to the eligible," with the vast majority undergoing evaluations to verify next of kin and therefore ensure child safety, according to the Associated Press.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told the AP he was concerned about the high number of children who have not been cleared for reunification.
The judge on Monday put a temporary hold on deporting parents as the government worked on a response to a request from the ACLU that parents receive at least a week to consider applying for asylum in the U.S. after they get their children back.
ABC News' Lauren Pearle contributed to this story.
