ACLU says 1,500 more children separated from parents than previously reported

The Trump administration said in federal court that 1,556 more parents and children were separated from each other at the border than previously known, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 

The ACLU said in a statement dated Thursday that the administration revealed the number after a court order.

{mosads}“It is shocking that 1,556 more families — including babies and toddlers — join the thousands of others already torn apart by this inhumane and illegal policy. Families have suffered tremendously, and some may never recover. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated,” said ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project lawyer Lee Gelernt in the statement.

A judge in June 2018 ordered the administration to halt the family separation practice.

The Associated Press reported that the total number of children separated since July 2017 is now more than 5,400. 

The ACLU told the wire service that the 1,556 children were separated between July 1, 2017, and June 26, 2018.

A January Department of Health and Human Services watchdog said that possibly thousands more children had been separated than previously known, according to the wire service. As a result, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw gave the administration six months to identify the children.

The ACLU said it received the information one day before the Friday deadline.

The Trump administration last month introduced a controversial new policy to deny asylum to any migrant who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection in that other country first.