McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the separation of immigrant children from their parents following President Donald Trump’s order allowing them to remain with their parents (all times local):
10:30 a.m.
The U.N human rights office says President Donald Trump’s decision to stop the U.S. policy separating migrant parents from their children doesn’t go far enough.
A Trump executive order ended the policy of separations. Families will still be detained, just together.
Human rights office spokeswoman Ravini Shamdasani said Friday that “children should never be detained for reasons related to their or their parents’ migration status.”
Shamdasani urged the U.S. to overhaul its migration policy, such as by relying on “non-custodial and community-based alternatives” under the “logic of care” rather than that of law enforcement.
Also Friday, a group of nearly a dozen independent human rights experts commissioned by the U.N. said the new U.S. policy “may lead to indefinite detention of entire families in violation of international human rights standards.”
10:25 a.m.
U.S. officials have allowed journalists to tour a South Florida facility housing more than 1,000 teen-age migrants but did not let them take photos or record video during the visit.
Private contractors who run the center for unaccompanied minors in Homestead, Fla., showed journalists around the campus like-complex for about an hour.
The complex includes dorm-style buildings where children sleep up to 12 per room in steel-framed bunk beds, and warehouse-sized, air-conditioned white tents where minors attend classes and watch movies.
The children could be seen walking to the dining hall and classes, wearing government-issued cotton T-shirts and gym shorts. Some could be seen playing basketball and soccer, sometimes shouting and laughing.
Program director Leslie Wood said fewer than 70 of the 1,179 children had been separated from families at the border.
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8:40 a.m.
A coalition of civil rights and student advocacy groups has sued the Boston Public Schools to find out how much student information the system shares with federal immigration officials.
The groups, including the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, allege in the suit that the school system and Superintendent Tommy Chang have a “disturbing practice” of giving student information to immigration authorities.
The suit stems from the deportation of an East Boston High School student. The suit says evidence used by federal officials in deportation proceedings included a school report about two students who tried unsuccessfully to start a fight.
Chang has in the past said the schools don’t share student information.
A schools spokesman said he could not comment because the system had not been served with the suit.
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5:15 a.m.
A 7-year-old boy and his migrant mother who had been separated a month ago have been reunited after she sued in federal court and the Justice Department agreed to release the child.
The two were reunited at about 2:30 a.m. Friday at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Maryland, hours after a Justice Department lawyer told a U.S. District Court judge the child would be released.
The mother, Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia, had filed for political asylum after crossing the border with her son, Darwin, following a trek from Guatemala. She said she started crying when the two were reunited and that she’s never going to be away from him again.
Darwin said he was content and happy with the reunion.
The mother and son were to travel to Texas, where they will live while her asylum claim is being decided.
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2:25 a.m.
Immigration enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border was plunged deeper into chaos over President Donald Trump’s reversal of a policy separating immigrant children from parents.
A senior Trump administration official says about 500 of the more than 2,300 children separated from their families at the border have been reunited since May. It was unclear how many of the children were still being detained with their families.
The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In the Texas border city of McAllen, federal prosecutors unexpectedly did not pursue charges against 17 immigrants. One said “there was no prosecution sought” in light of Trump’s executive order ending the practice of separating families.
But the president showed no sign of softening in public remarks.
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