All separated migrant children in CBP custody will be reunited with parents Friday: report

All of the unaccompanied migrant children currently in the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are expected to be reunited with their parents on Friday, according to CNN.

“CBP expects that all unaccompanied children in their custody who were separated from adults who were being prosecuted will have been reunited with their families,” a CBP official told CNN on Friday.  

According to CNN, the reunions do not include the 2,300 to 3,000 children currently in custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Most of the children being reunited with their parents on Friday would be those who were detained within the last 72 hours and who weren’t already transferred out of CBP custody.

{mosads}

The official told CNN that some children will not be reunited in cases where “the familial relationship cannot be confirmed, or believe the adult is a threat to the safety of the child, or the adult is a criminal undocumented immigrant.”

The move comes after President Trump, facing intense bipartisan pressure, backed off his administration’s “zero tolerance” policy this week.

Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday ending migrant family separations, a practice that had occurred as a result of his administration’s zero tolerance policy that seeks to aggressively prosecute those who cross into the U.S. illegally via the southern border.

The policy, announced in April, will remain in effect, though families are now expected to be detained together, in most cases.

National outrage over the policy grew after pictures of distressed children behind chain-link fencing surfaced and audio of crying children was released, sparking condemnation of the policy from both Republicans and Democrats.