The administration would begin by sifting through names for traits most likely to signal separation — for example, children under 5. The administration would provide information on separated families on a rolling basis to the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to reunite families and criticized the proposed timeline on Saturday. "We strongly oppose a plan that could take up to two years to locate these families," said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU's lead attorney. Then, in January, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's internal watchdog reported that thousands more children may have been separated since the summer of 2017. The vast majority of separated children are released to relatives, but many are not parents.

Source: ABC News April 06, 2019 17:03 UTC