A US judge, responding to a plan to reunify children separated at the US-Mexico border, said he was having second thoughts about his belief that the administration of US President Donald Trump was acting in good faith to comply with his orders.
The US Department of Justice on Friday filed a plan to reunify more than 2,500 children age five and older by a court-imposed deadline of Thursday next week using “truncated” procedures to verify parentage and perform background checks, which exclude DNA testing and other steps it took to reunify children under five.
The US administration said the abbreviated vetting puts children at significant safety risk, but is needed to meet the deadline.
Chris Meekins, deputy assistant Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary for preparedness and response, filed a declaration that he is fully committed to meeting the deadline.
However, he does not believe “the placing of children into such situations is consistent with the mission of HHS or my core values.”
US District Judge Dana Sabraw took umbrage at Meekins’ statement, disputing the official’s interpretation of his orders and saying that safe reunification could and will occur by Thursday next week.
“It is clear from Mr Meekins’ declaration that HHS either does not understand the court’s orders or is acting in defiance of them,” the judge wrote late on Friday. “At a minimum, it appears he is attempting to provide cover to defendants for their own conduct in the practice of family separation, and the lack of foresight and infrastructure necessary to remedy the harms caused by that practice.”
Sabraw, an appointee of former US president George W Bush, said Meekins’ statement calls into question his comments in court hours earlier that the US administration was acting in good faith.
Sabraw in court on Friday said that the US administration had largely complied with the orders, but he added that he will be monitoring its actions ahead of the deadline.
“The task is laborious, but can be accomplished in the time and manner prescribed,” Sabraw wrote in his order.
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