The Trump administration has released its plan for reuniting children who have been separated from their parents as a result of the president's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, but in a fact sheet issued on Saturday, it provided no timeline for when those reunifications will happen.
According to the fact sheet, the Department of Health and Human Services has 2,053 separated minors in HHS-funded facilities "and is working with relevant agency partners to foster communications and work towards reuniting every minor and every parent or guardian via well-established reunification processes."
"The United States government knows the location of all children in its custody and is working to reunite them with their families," according to the Department of Homeland Security, which says 522 children that were in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection have already been reunited with their families.
DHS says the process of reunification is "well-coordinated," noting that Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), HHS and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) are working together on the reunification process.
ICE is posting notices in its facilities telling parents that are trying to locate their children to call 1-800-203-7001. However many parents have reported that when they try to call that number, they have either been unable to get through, or were told they will receive a call back. Some have also reported not being able to make phone calls easily from the detention facilities where they are being held, further complicating the process of trying to reach their children, many of whom are being shuttled through shelters thousands of miles away.