The Supreme Court says police generally need a search warrant if they want to track criminal suspects' movements by collecting information about where they've used their cellphones

The Supreme Court says police generally need a search warrant if they want to track criminal suspects' movements by collecting information about where they've used their cellphones

President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally

President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally

President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally

President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally

President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally

President Donald Trump is highlighting the plight of Americans whose loved ones were killed by people who entered the country illegally

Republican leaders increasingly see President Donald Trump as a party leader who can't be relied upon

Republican leaders increasingly see President Donald Trump as a party leader who can't be relied upon

A rest center for asylum-seekers in the Texas border town of McAllen has seen such a big surge of donations that they've had to rent additional storage space, and caravans of volunteers from across the U.S. have also showed up at their doors.

A rest center for asylum-seekers in the Texas border town of McAllen has seen such a big surge of donations that they've had to rent additional storage space, and caravans of volunteers from across the U.S. have also showed up at their doors.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insists the administration's reversal in referring parents crossing the border illegally with children for prosecution is only temporary because the government is running out of resources

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insists the administration's reversal in referring parents crossing the border illegally with children for prosecution is only temporary because the government is running out of resources

The Latest: No arrests at protest against Sessions event

The Latest: No arrests at protest against Sessions event

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insists the administration's reversal in referring parents crossing the border illegally with children for prosecution is only temporary because the government is running out of resources

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insists the administration's reversal in referring parents crossing the border illegally with children for prosecution is only temporary because the government is running out of resources

The Latest: No arrests at protest against Sessions event

The Latest: No arrests at protest against Sessions event

Customs and Border Protection has allowed news media organizations to tour a 77,000-square-foot facility in McAllen, Texas, that houses families and children who enter the country illegally

Customs and Border Protection has allowed news media organizations to tour a 77,000-square-foot facility in McAllen, Texas, that houses families and children who enter the country illegally

President Donald Trump is campaigning for South Carolina's governor but is making the vote all about himself, too

President Donald Trump is campaigning for South Carolina's governor but is making the vote all about himself, too

Trump makes runoff election for SC governor about him, too

Trump makes runoff election for SC governor about him, too

(Lancaster County District Attorney's Office via AP). This Monday, June 25, 2018, photo provided by the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office shows Raymond Charles Rowe, of Lancaster, Pa., a disc jockey arrested Monday and charged with criminal h...

(Lancaster County District Attorney's Office via AP). This Monday, June 25, 2018, photo provided by the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office shows Raymond Charles Rowe, of Lancaster, Pa., a disc jockey arrested Monday and charged with criminal h...

A conservative suburb of Austin, Texas, is ending a contract with a 500-bed immigration detention center that has been a target of lawsuits and criminal investigations for a decade.

A conservative suburb of Austin, Texas, is ending a contract with a 500-bed immigration detention center that has been a target of lawsuits and criminal investigations for a decade.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip). A mother migrating from Honduras holds her 1-year-old child as surrendering to U.S. Border Patrol agents after illegally crossing the border Monday, June 25, 2018, near McAllen, Texas.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip). A mother migrating from Honduras holds her 1-year-old child as surrendering to U.S. Border Patrol agents after illegally crossing the border Monday, June 25, 2018, near McAllen, Texas.

The chief executive of the nation's largest shelters for migrant youth says he's 'ready now' to reunite hundreds of children with their parents.

The chief executive of the nation's largest shelters for migrant youth says he's 'ready now' to reunite hundreds of children with their parents.

(Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP). Dignitaries take a tour of Southwest Key Programs Casa Padre, a U.S. immigration facility in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, June 18, 2018, where children are detained.

(Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP). Dignitaries take a tour of Southwest Key Programs Casa Padre, a U.S. immigration facility in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, June 18, 2018, where children are detained.

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman says she's barely been able to work out since going public with allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a former sports doctor.

Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman says she's barely been able to work out since going public with allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a former sports doctor.

(AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File). FILE - In this June 21, 2018, file photo, Olympian Aly Raisman, center, poses with other yoga enthusiasts on International Yoga Day in Times Square in New York. Raisman told The Improper Bostonian magazine, for a story pu...

(AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File). FILE - In this June 21, 2018, file photo, Olympian Aly Raisman, center, poses with other yoga enthusiasts on International Yoga Day in Times Square in New York. Raisman told The Improper Bostonian magazine, for a story pu...

California marijuana shops are selling untested pot at bargain basement prices ahead of strict quality and safety standards that take effect Sunday.

California marijuana shops are selling untested pot at bargain basement prices ahead of strict quality and safety standards that take effect Sunday.

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu). In this June 21, 2018, photo, laboratory manager Emily Savage demonstrates how she uses an instrument to photograph cannabis samples at CW Analytical Laboratories, in Oakland, Calif. California's new rules require testing of marij...

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu). In this June 21, 2018, photo, laboratory manager Emily Savage demonstrates how she uses an instrument to photograph cannabis samples at CW Analytical Laboratories, in Oakland, Calif. California's new rules require testing of marij...

Legal experts say the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling upholding President Donald Trump's travel ban may have a silver lining for people fighting other Trump administration immigration policies.

Legal experts say the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling upholding President Donald Trump's travel ban may have a silver lining for people fighting other Trump administration immigration policies.

(Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times via AP). Varisha Khan, front, director of the Muslim committee at OneAmerica in Seattle, leads a chant during a protest and news conference by CAIR-Washington and other organizations upset by the Supreme Court's decision ...

(Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times via AP). Varisha Khan, front, director of the Muslim committee at OneAmerica in Seattle, leads a chant during a protest and news conference by CAIR-Washington and other organizations upset by the Supreme Court's decision ...

Abortion rights advocates are reeling from a Supreme Court decision invalidating a California law requiring anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about birth control and abortion access.

Abortion rights advocates are reeling from a Supreme Court decision invalidating a California law requiring anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about birth control and abortion access.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull). A College Area Pregnancy Services (CAPS) clinic is seen Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in San Diego. The Supreme Court on Tuesday effectively put an end to a California law that forces anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide...

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull). A College Area Pregnancy Services (CAPS) clinic is seen Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in San Diego. The Supreme Court on Tuesday effectively put an end to a California law that forces anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide...

One of President Donald Trump's earliest and most loyal supporters won a key primary runoff Tuesday, as South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster fended off a challenge from a self-made millionaire to secure the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

One of President Donald Trump's earliest and most loyal supporters won a key primary runoff Tuesday, as South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster fended off a challenge from a self-made millionaire to secure the...

Mitt Romney will learn Tuesday if he'll continue the reboot of his political career as voters decide a GOP primary for a Utah Senate seat.

Mitt Romney will learn Tuesday if he'll continue the reboot of his political career as voters decide a GOP primary for a Utah Senate seat.

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer). In this Saturday, June 23, 2018, photo, Mitt Romney shakes hands during the Strawberry Day Parade in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Romney faces state lawmaker Mike Kennedy on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, as the ex-presidential nominee looks ...

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer). In this Saturday, June 23, 2018, photo, Mitt Romney shakes hands during the Strawberry Day Parade in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Romney faces state lawmaker Mike Kennedy on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, as the ex-presidential nominee looks ...

Immigrant-rights advocates are asking a federal judge to order the release of parents separated from their children at the border.

Immigrant-rights advocates are asking a federal judge to order the release of parents separated from their children at the border.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster). Tears run down the face of Naomi Liem, 10, of Franklin Park, N.J., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2018, during a protest against immigrant families being split up. Liem's father, Guanuawan Liem, is currently...

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip). A mother migrating from Honduras holds her 1-year-old child as surrendering to U.S. Border Patrol agents after illegally crossing the border Monday, June 25, 2018, near McAllen, Texas.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Latest on immigrant parents and children separated at the U.S. border (all times local):

A judge in California has ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days.

If the children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order, issued Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego issued the order in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. The lawsuit involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Sabraw also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters. President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

A Houston-based shelter for "tender age" immigrant children being separated from their parents is one step closer to opening.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission said Tuesday that it has received enough information from the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs to conduct an inspection of the proposed shelter for young kids.

Houston's mayor has said the shelter would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for Hurricane Harvey evacuees.

A spokeswoman for the commission says it has three weeks to do the inspection and two months to decide whether to issue a permit to Southwest Key.

Southwest Key's operation of shelters has come under new scrutiny because of the Trump administration's separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border. The group is caring for more than 600 children taken from their parents. Of those, 152 are younger than 5.

Mexico Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray says that his country's government will propose a resolution before the Organization of American States on Friday condemning the United States' policy of separating children from parents who have entered the country illegally.

The administration of President Donald Trump reversed course on that policy after outrage from opponents and his own party, but it is still working on how to reunite parents separated from their children.

In a statement Tuesday, Videgaray said he hoped that other countries in the region would support Mexico's proposed resolution. It will also ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to institute protection measures if it sees fit.

It says Videgaray considers the policy "cruel, inhumane, unjustified and a violation of human rights."

Videgaray says, "we're worried about what is going to happen with the children that are still detained, in spite of being accompanied by their parents, and in general the situation of children not only Mexican, but also of other nationalities, who are subjected to a violation of their fundamental rights."

The chief executive of the nation's largest shelters for migrant children says he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite thousands of immigrant children with their parents.

Juan Sanchez of the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children separated from their parents as part of the Trump administration's recent "zero-tolerance" immigration policy.

Sanchez says Southwest Key is "ready today" to help reunite children, but the group is limited in what it can do because many parents' cases will likely have to make their way through the legal system.

During Congressional testimony, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declined to be pinned down on how long it would take to reunite families.

Several dozen protesters gathered in North Carolina's capital to demand that President Donald Trump's administration swiftly reunite immigrant families separated at the border.

Organizers of the protest Tuesday at the Terry Sanford Federal Building in Raleigh say they also want to get the attention of elected officials such as Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. They want North Carolina politicians to push back on Trump administration immigration policies.

The protesters gathered outside a building that houses federal courtrooms and one of Tillis' offices.

Organizer Karen Ziegler said their goal is to keep pressure on the Trump administration to reunite immigrant children housed separately from their parents.

A Brazilian woman has filed a federal lawsuit demanding the release of her 9-year-old son who's being detained in Chicago after the two were separated at the border.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday says Lidia Karine Souza was released from detention on June 9 after arriving in the U.S. last month seeking asylum. Souza is now staying with family in Massachusetts, but her son remains detained.

The lawsuit says that because of paperwork the earliest the two will be reunited is late July. Souza's lawyers say the delay is "unacceptable, unnecessary and unconstitutional."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week ending the practice of separating migrant children from family members detained at the border, but many children remain separated.

The lawsuit was filed in Chicago.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the state will provide free legal services to anyone detained at New York airports on immigration charges.

The Democrat says Tuesday that the move is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling upholding President Donald Trump's ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries.

Cuomo says lawyers will be available through the Liberty Defense Project, administered by the Office of New Americans. Cuomo created the office in 2013 to help immigrants navigate the naturalization process.

The governor referred to the Trump administration's travel ban as religious discrimination camouflaged as national security.

The Liberty Defense Project was created in 2017 as the Trump administration's policies cracked down on immigration.

Advocacy groups on human rights and immigration issues are voicing concerns about border enforcement and asylum practices in a meeting with Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan.

Border Network for Human Rights Executive Director Fernando Garcia said he was seeking information at the meeting Tuesday about expanded criminal prosecution of immigrants at the border, obstacles to processing asylum claims and new reports of alleged abuses by Border Patrol agents.

Garcia also says human rights groups including the ACLU are worried about plans to hold immigrants at military bases in Texas including Fort Bliss. He says the further "militarization" of the border is especially unwarranted at El Paso, which has one of the lowest crime rates in the nation.

Seventeen states, including Washington, New York and California, are suing to force the Trump administration to reunite migrant families who have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Tuesday. It's the first legal challenge by states over the practice.

Immigration authorities have separated about 2,300 children from their parents in recent weeks, sparking global outrage as images of weeping children emerged.

The president last week issued an executive order designed to end the practice, but the states say his order is riddled with caveats and fails to reunite parents and children who have already been torn apart.

The lawsuit says the migrants have been denied due process and their right to seek asylum.

Dozens of protesters have showed up outside a Los Angeles hotel where Attorney General Jeff Sessions has arrived to address the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

Protesters gathered outside the Millennium Biltmore hotel in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday at midday.

They chanted, "Free our children, jail Sessions!" and "No justice, no peace!"

Police and security guards stood guard outside the hotel's entrance.

Mexico's top diplomat says the executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump to keep migrant families from being separated still violates their human rights.

Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray also says children already separated should be reunited with their parents immediately.

Videgaray told reporters Tuesday that Trump's move "is the criminalization of the migration, which we believe is absolutely unacceptable, and the consequences this criminalization has for the children."

Videgaray says Mexico is drafting a resolution to bring before the Organization of American States in Washington on Friday that condemns the Trump administration's policy toward migrant families and calls for a human rights mission to investigate the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Police are arresting about two dozen protesters who sat down and blocked a street outside the U.S. attorney's office in downtown Los Angeles to protest the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Officers began the arrests shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday, a few hours before a scheduled address by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation's annual meeting at a Los Angeles hotel.

Demonstrators on sidewalks cheered as the protesters in the street were calmly handcuffed by officers and led away.

Lawyers who visited a federal immigration detention lockup in rural Texas where the U.S. government says it is establishing a family reunification center say no information about the detainees is being released.

Attorneys from the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia said on a conference call Tuesday that they need to have names, federal alien identification numbers or case numbers to access the facility at Port Isabel, near Los Fresnos.

They can only take a pen and paper when they meet detainees, who are all adults.

The lawyers have spoken to about 200 detainees since last week and only a handful knew where their children were being held. Detainees report that a 1-800 number for information about separated children doesn't work.

The lawyers say detainees are segregated by country of origin. Many hail from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

A conservative suburb of Austin, Texas, is ending a contract with a 500-bed immigration detention center that has been a target of lawsuits and criminal investigations for a decade.

Commissioners in Williamson County voted 4-1 on Tuesday to sever ties with the T. Don Hutto Residential Center starting in 2019. The facility houses women and is overseen by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The canceled contract comes amid uproar over the Trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy and families that were split up by the government.

The facility opened in 2006 after being converted from a medium-security prison. It originally held women and children until 2009, when the U.S. government settled a lawsuit over how children were being confined.

Advocates say problems inside the facility have persisted. It is privately run by CoreCivic, which was formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America.

Dozens of protesters have gathered outside the US attorney's office in Los Angeles to protest the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Tuesday's protest outside the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles comes hours before U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to address the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation's annual meeting.

Protesters also are carrying signs reading: "Free the children!" and "stop caging families."

A man wearing a Donald Trump mask has a sign reading: "Know your enemy."

A handful of Los Angeles police officers are standing to the side of the protest.

Immigrant rights advocates are asking a judge to order the release of immigrant parents separated from their children at the U.S. border and their reunification.

Attorneys on Monday asked the federal court in Los Angeles that is overseeing a longstanding settlement governing detention conditions for immigrant children to include their parents as plaintiffs.

The complaint filed by pro bono law firm Public Counsel on behalf of three Central American mothers whose children were taken from them by U.S. authorities in May argues that families need to heal from the trauma of forced separation together and outside the confines of detention.

Attorneys say the mothers are fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the United States.

The Trump administration has asked the court to let authorities detain families together during immigration proceedings to try to discourage illegal immigration.

The image of an immigrant child clinging to her mother has been removed from a mural near the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic site in Kansas.

The Kansas City Star reports that the image was painted over Monday.

The 130- by 30-foot (40- by 9-meter) mural tells the story of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended segregated education and faces a former all-black school in Topeka where the lead plaintiff's child was a student.

Artist bj McBride says she added the mother and child to the mural Friday following reports of the separation of parents and children at the U.S. border. She later decided it was "distracting."

Sarah Fizell, executive director of the nonprofit ArtsConnect behind the mural, says the image didn't fit with the mural's story.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>LOS ANGELES: A US judge ordered that migrant families separated at the border with Mexico under President Donald Trump’s "zero tolerance" policy be reunited within 30 days.

For children under five the reunification must take place within two weeks of the order, issued Tuesday by US District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego.

Sabraw issued the ruling in response to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a seven-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.



The judge also issued an injunction against any more family separations.

Trump signed an executive order last week halting his government’s practice of taking children away from parents who cross the border without papers, even to seek asylum. Many are fleeing violence in Central America.

But the order made no specific provisions for families already separated under the policy, which drew scorn as inhumane and even a form of child abuse in heated criticism in America and around the world.</s>Los Angeles: US judge has ordered that migrant families separated at the border with Mexico under President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy be reunited within 30 days.



 For children under five, reunification must take place within two weeks of the order issued Tuesday by US District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego.

Sabraw made the sternly worded decision in response to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a seven-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.The judge also issued an injunction against any more family separations, which was part of a policy under which anyone crossing the border illegally is detained and referred for criminal prosecution.US federal authorities have 10 days to allow parents to call their children if they are not already in touch with them, the judge said.Trump last week signed an executive order halting his government's practice of taking children away from parents who cross the border without papers, even to seek asylum. Many are destitute people fleeing gang violence and other turmoil in Central America.It was a rare retreat for Trump, who has made fighting immigration -- both illegal and legal -- one of the most sacred mantras of his fiercely US-centered policy agenda.But the order made no specific provisions for families already separated under the policy, which sparked heated criticism in America and worldwide as inhumane and even a form of child abuse.More than 2,000 children taken from their families remain under the care of federal authorities. Some are just toddlers, or even infants.The ACLU argued that the administration has no real plan for reuniting families.Every night small children "are crying themselves to sleep wondering if they will ever see their parents again," said ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt.Now, the policy of detaining parents who cross illegally with children has been suspended, with authorities saying that among other factors they do not have space for all the families coming over from Mexico.Judge Sabraw was scathing in his criticism of the Trump policy of taking children away from their parents."The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance -- responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government's own making," Sabraw wrote in the 24-page ruling."They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution," the judge added.The attorneys-general of 18 mainly Democratic states also filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the Trump family separation policy.They argued that Trump's order halting the practice has so many caveats it is meaningless. It calls for money to be appropriated to reunite families but does not say how much or by when, and depends on a judge allowing indefinite detention of children, the officials wrote."Keeping children separated from their parents is inhumane, unconscionable and illegal -- and we're filing suit to stop it," wrote Attorney General Barbara Underwood of New York.Some 200 protesters turned out in Los Angeles to protest a visit by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of the most visible faces of the Trump border control policy.Around 20 were arrested after defying police orders to disperse.Trump did score a big win on immigration Tuesday, however, as the US Supreme Court upheld the latest version of his travel ban targeting people from some Muslim-majority countries.By a 5-4 vote, the court's conservative majority said Trump was within his legal authority as president to issue such a ban.Trump pounced on the decision as an endorsement of his authority to defend national security and "a tremendous success and victory for the American people."Immigration has been among the thorniest issue in American politics for decades, with Congress repeatedly failing to pass comprehensive reforms.The House of Representatives intends to vote Wednesday on a broad immigration bill that ends family separations, but passage is in doubt. Should the bill fail, it would be a dramatic embarrassment for Trump's party.Hannah Hanmer, who was protesting with her baby in Los Angeles, said she was angry the government was trying "to remove human dignity from immigrants" arriving with children."I want to be one of the people who said no," the 26-year-old told AFP.(WAH)</s>A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn't want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

The lawsuit in San Diego involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

"The administration's practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. "Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can't forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance."

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

"This is the Trump era," he said. "We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on — so does this group — and we're on the side of police, and we're on the side of the public safety of the American people."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation's largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez with the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

"It could take days," he said. "Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don't know."

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn't nearly enough progress.

"HHS, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they're doing to tell parents where their kids are," Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children — as well as children traveling alone — are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

"The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated," Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is "scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done."

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children's Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

"Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better," she said. "But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don't know where the parent is. They're just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, 'Where is my parent?'"

Since calling for an end to the separations, administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants, with the Pentagon drawing up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

At the same time, the administration has asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions' address.</s>A little girl and a woman along with other migrant families cross the street after being processed at the Central Bus Station before being taken to Catholic Charities before being removed in McAllen, Texas 26 June 2018. Immigration along the Rio Grande in Texas has become a political issue, due to the controversy surrounding the US Justice Department's suspended 'Zero Tolerance' policy of criminally prosecuting all migrants entering the country illegally and the now-reversed policy of separating migrant children from their parents. EPA-EFE/LARRY W. SMITH ORG XMIT: LWS119

A federal judge in California has ordered U.S. immigration authorities to reunite separated families on the border within 30 days, describing the Trump administration's handling of the crisis as attempts "to address a chaotic circumstance of the government’s own making."

The preliminary injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego, said children younger than 5 must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday.

Sabraw, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn’t want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by an anonymous woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was separated from her 17-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother. It was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which pursued it as a class action after U.S. authorities began a "zero tolerance" policy in early May toward people crossing the border.

Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney who represented the families in this California case, praised the judge's ruling.

“This is a complete victory for these parents and children who feared they might never see each other again," Gelernt said. "Tears of joy will be flowing in the detention centers when they hear the news. We hope the administration will now turn its efforts to reuniting these kids.”

The Department of Justice said the court's decision "makes it even more imperative that Congress finally act to give federal law enforcement the ability to simultaneously enforce the law and keep families together. "

"Without this action by Congress, lawlessness at the border will continue, which will only lead to predictable results — more heroin and fentanyl pushed by Mexican cartels plaguing our communities, a surge in MS-13 gang members and an increase in the number of human trafficking prosecutions,” the department said in a statement.

Under the terms of the zero tolerance policy, children were separated from their parents when the adults were arrested for alleged illegal entry into the U.S.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

After a national outcry, President Donald Trump hastily issued an executive order to stop the separation of families while officials began the reunification process.

Sabraw called the unfolding of events since the zero tolerance policy was put into effect "reactive governance — responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government’s own making. "

"They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of

 due process enshrined in our Constitution," Sabraw wrote.

In his 24-page order, the judge also slammed the administration's lack of preparedness in implementing its "zero tolerance" policy.

“The government readily keeps track of personal property of detainees in criminal and immigration proceedings,” Sabraw wrote. “Money, important documents, and automobiles, to name a few, are routinely catalogued, stored, tracked and produced upon a detainee’s release, at all levels — state and federal, citizen and alien. Yet, the government has no system in place to keep track of, provide effective communication with, and promptly produce alien children. The unfortunate reality is that under the present system migrant children are not accounted for with the same efficiency and accuracy as property. Certainly, that cannot satisfy the requirements of due process.”

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance.”

More: USA TODAY tracking where separated children sent

More: Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' border prosecutions led to time served, $10 fees

More: The Wall: Explore 2,000 miles between U.S., Mexico

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hard-line stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected Trump to do just that.

“This is the Trump era,” he said. “We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on – so does this group – and we’re on the side of police, and we’re on the side of the public safety of the American people.”

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation’s largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez, with the non-profit Southwest Key Programs, said in an interview with the Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

“It could take days,” he said. “Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don’t know.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn’t nearly enough progress.

“HHS, Homeland Security and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they’re doing to tell parents where their kids are,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.

Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children — as well as children traveling alone — are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

“The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is “scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done.”

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children’s Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

“Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better,” she said. “But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don’t know where the parent is. They’re just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, ‘Where is my parent?’”

Administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants since calling for an end to separations. The Pentagon has drawn up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

The administration has also asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at a rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions’ address.

Outside the U.S. attorney’s office, protesters carried signs reading, “Free the children!” and “Stop caging families.” Clergy members blocked the street by forming a human chain. Police handcuffed them and led them away.

Later, protesters gathered outside the hotel where Sessions gave his speech. As the attorney general’s motorcade arrived, the crowd chanted, “Nazi, go home.”</s>Seventeen US states and Washington DC are suing Donald Trump's administration over its family separation policy at the US border.

The lawsuit was filed by 18 Democratic attorneys general and attempts to force the administration to reunite the approximately 2,000 separated children with their families.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement the policy to detain children away from parents was a “heartless political manoeuvre".

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Though Mr Trump signed an executive order last week declaring that families would no longer be separated upon illegal entry into the US, the lawsuit stated the executive order is "so vague and equivocal that it is unclear when or if any changes will actually be made".

The order did not reverse or end the underlying "zero tolerance" policy announced by Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general.

Families can also now be indefinitely detained and the policy still makes seeking asylum in the US a crime. US immigration law states people wanting the protected status must enter the country before applying for it.

The order stated that "family unity" will be maintained "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources".

“Child internment camps in America...the Trump Administration has hit a new low. President Trump’s indifference towards the human rights of the children and parents who have been ripped away from one another is chilling,” Mr Becerra said.

The lawsuit claims the implementation of the policy was "motivated by animus and a desire to harm” and said it is unconstitutional.

Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia joined the complaint which was filed in the US District Court, Western District of Washington, in Seattle.

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Parents are still being detained, sometimes thousands of miles from their children who were moved as far away as New York and Michigan, and neither the Department of Health Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement - in charge of the child detention centres - nor the Department of Homeland Security have announced a concrete reunification plan.

The lawsuit alleged that parents are being denied due process and their right to seek asylum after fleeing rampant gang violence in their home countries.

Another lawsuit was brought by an immigrant rights group in Seattle as well after approximately 70 families from South Asia were separated upon entering the country to seek asylum.

For several days leading up to the executive order Mr Trump and his administration - in various stages - denied that families were being separated, called it "biblical" to enforce to US immigration law, and falsely blamed Democrats for the continuation of separating children, sometimes as young as four months old, from families.

Shape Created with Sketch. ‘Families belong together’ protests over Trump immigration policy Show all 8 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. ‘Families belong together’ protests over Trump immigration policy 1/8 Mishawaka, Indiana AP 2/8 Washington DC AFP/Getty Images 3/8 New York Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks in Tornillo, Texas alongside the many other US mayors who have called for detained immigrant children to be reunited with their families AP 4/8 Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kelle leaves a teddy bear as a gift for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 5/8 Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti leave sandals as gifts for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 6/8 San Diego, California EPA 7/8 US embassy, Mexico City AFP/Getty Images 8/8 San Diego, California EPA 1/8 Mishawaka, Indiana AP 2/8 Washington DC AFP/Getty Images 3/8 New York Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks in Tornillo, Texas alongside the many other US mayors who have called for detained immigrant children to be reunited with their families AP 4/8 Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kelle leaves a teddy bear as a gift for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 5/8 Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti leave sandals as gifts for detained immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas AP 6/8 San Diego, California EPA 7/8 US embassy, Mexico City AFP/Getty Images 8/8 San Diego, California EPA

Mr Trump and his surrogates also claimed the policy was aimed at taking children away from potential human traffickers.

However, there is no US immigration law or court precedent that compelled the federal government to separate families. It was only due to Mr Sessions' policy announced in May 2018 that parents and guardians entered the US criminal justice system, therefore making it impossible for their children to accompany them.

Immigrants' rights activists, thousands of protesters, Democrats, all the living former first ladies and even some Republicans were harsh in their criticism of Mr Trump and the policy.

Former First Lady Laura Bush said it was "cruel" and Senator Lindsey Graham called it "a mess".

Mr Trump's response was to wrongfully claim he did not have unilateral power to end the policy.

He said the day of the order signing: “The dilemma is that if you’re weak, if you’re weak, which some people would like you to be, if you’re really, really pathetically weak, the country’s going to be overrun with millions of people.

"And if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart. That’s a tough dilemma. Perhaps I would rather be strong, but that’s a tough dilemma."</s>Tuesday, 17 states including Washington, New York, and California, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the separation of immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexican border.

In the first legal challenge by states over the Trump Administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy the states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The 17 states involved in the lawsuit are Massachusetts, California, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

This story will be updated once more information is available.

The post 17 states sue Trump administration over separation of families at the border appeared first on 850 WFTL.</s>A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that U.S. immigration agents could no longer separate immigrant parents and children caught crossing the border from Mexico illegally, and must reunite those families that had been split up in custody.

REUTERS: A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that U.S. immigration agents could no longer separate immigrant parents and children caught crossing the border from Mexico illegally, and must reunite those families that had been split up in custody.

United States District Court Judge Dana Sabraw granted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed over the family separations.

More than 2,300 migrant children were separated from their parents after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration began a "zero tolerance" policy in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who crossed the border illegally, including those traveling with children.

"The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government's own making," Sabraw wrote. "They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution."

Sabraw ordered the government to reunite parents with their children younger than 5 years old within 14 days of the order, and children 5 years old and older within 30 days of the order.

Sabraw's ruling could force the administration to rapidly address confusion left by Trump's order, and government agencies to scramble to reunite families. The administration can appeal.

The ACLU had sued on behalf of a mother and her then 6-year-old daughter, who were separated after arriving last November in the United States to seek asylum and escape religious persecution in Democratic Republic of Congo.

While they were reunited in March, the ACLU is pursuing class-action claims on behalf of other immigrants.

Trump issued an executive order to end the family separations on June 20, but the government has yet to reunite about 2,000 children with their parents.

The ACLU said on Monday Trump's order contained "loopholes", and proposed requiring that families be reunited within 30 days, unless the parents were unfit or were housed in adult-only criminal facilities.

Before the preliminary injunction ruling, the U.S. government urged Sabraw not to require that it stop separating and quickly reunite migrant families after they illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, saying Trump's executive order last week "largely" addressed those goals.

Sabraw, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, had on June 6 rejected the government's bid to dismiss the case, saying forced separations could "shock the conscience" and amount to a violation of constitutional due process.

The case is Ms. L et al v U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, No. 18-00428.</s>A little girl and a woman along with other migrant families cross the street after being processed at the Central Bus Station before being taken to Catholic Charities before being removed in McAllen, Texas 26 June 2018. Immigration along the Rio Grande in Texas has become a political issue, due to the controversy surrounding the US Justice Department's suspended 'Zero Tolerance' policy of criminally prosecuting all migrants entering the country illegally and the now-reversed policy of separating migrant children from their parents. EPA-EFE/LARRY W. SMITH ORG XMIT: LWS119

McALLEN, Texas — A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn’t want to be with the child. It also requires the government to provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together.

The lawsuit in San Diego involves a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

Also Tuesday, 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance.”

More: USA TODAY tracking where separated children sent

More: Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' border prosecutions led to time served, $10 fees

More: The Wall: Explore 2,000 miles between U.S., Mexico

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

“This is the Trump era,” he said. “We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on – so does this group – and we’re on the side of police, and we’re on the side of the public safety of the American people.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

Juan Sanchez, chief executive of the nation’s largest shelters for migrant children, said he fears a lack of urgency by the U.S. government could mean it will take months to reunite families.

Sanchez with the nonprofit Southwest Key Programs said in an interview with The Associated Press that the government has no process in place to speed the return of children to their parents.

“It could take days,” he said. “Or it could take a month, two months, six or even nine. I just don’t know.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday.

Democratic senators said that wasn’t nearly enough progress.

“HHS, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department seem to be doing a lot more to add to the bedlam and deflect blame than they’re doing to tell parents where their kids are,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants traveling with children — as well as children traveling alone — are caught on the Mexican border each year. Many are fleeing gang violence in their home countries.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

“The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is “scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done.”

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children’s Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

“Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better,” she said. “But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don’t know where the parent is. They’re just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, ‘Where is my parent?’”

Since calling for an end to the separations, administration officials have been casting about for detention space for migrants, with the Pentagon drawing up plans to hold as many as 20,000 at U.S. military bases.

At the same time, the administration has asked the courts to let it detain families together for an extended period while their immigration cases are resolved. Under a 1997 court settlement, children must be released from detention as quickly as possible, which generally has been construed to be within 20 days.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions’ address.

Outside the U.S. attorney’s office, protesters carried signs reading, “Free the children!” and “Stop caging families.” Clergy members blocked the street by forming a human chain. Police handcuffed them and led them away.

Later, protesters gathered outside the hotel where Sessions gave his speech. As the attorney general’s motorcade arrived, the crowd chanted, “Nazi, go home.”</s>Judge: Separated families must be reunited within 30 days

A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.

If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego. Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush, also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit or doesn’t want to be with the child. He also requires the government provide phone contact between parents and their children within 10 days.

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in recent weeks and placed in government-contracted shelters — hundreds of miles away, in some cases — under a now-abandoned policy toward families caught illegally entering the U.S.

Amid an international outcry, Trump last week issued an executive order to stop the separation of families and said parents and children will instead be detained together. A Department of Homeland Security statement over the weekend on reuniting families only seemed to sow more confusion.

“The facts set forth before the Court portray reactive governance_responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the Government’s own making,” Sabraw wrote. “They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution.”

The ruling was a win for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in March involving a 7-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.

“Tears will be flowing in detention centers across the country when the families learn they will be reunited,” said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt.

The Justice and Homeland Security Departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.

It’s not clear how border authorities will meet the deadline. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border. That is only six fewer children than the number in HHS custody as of last Wednesday. Democratic senators said that wasn’t nearly enough progress.

Under questioning, Azar refused to be pinned down on how long it will take to reunite families. He said his department does extensive vetting of parents to make sure they are not traffickers masquerading as parents.

Also challenging will be the requirement the judge set on phone contact.

At a Texas detention facility, immigrant advocates complained that parents have gotten busy signals or no answers from a 1-800 number provided by federal authorities to get information about their children.

Attorneys have spoken to about 200 immigrants at the Port Isabel detention facility near Los Fresnos, Texas, since last week, and only a few knew where their children were being held, said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia.

“The U.S. government never had any plan to reunite these families that were separated,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, and now it is “scrambling to undo this terrible thing that they have done.”

A message left for HHS, which runs the hotline, was not immediately returned.

Many children in shelters in southern Texas have not had contact with their parents, though some have reported being allowed to speak with them in recent days, said Meghan Johnson Perez, director of the Children’s Project for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, which provides free legal services to minors.

“Things might be changing now. The agencies are trying to coordinate better,” she said. “But the kids we have been seeing have not been in contact with the parents. They don’t know where the parent is. They’re just distraught. Their urgent need is just trying to figure out, ‘Where is my parent?’”

The decision comes as 17 states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite children and parents. The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the multistate lawsuit.

“The administration’s practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. “Every day, it seems like the administration is issuing new, contradictory policies and relying on new, contradictory justifications. But we can’t forget: The lives of real people hang in the balance.”

In a speech before the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration for taking a hardline stand on illegal immigration and said the voters elected President Donald Trump to do just that.

“This is the Trump era,” he said. “We are enforcing our laws again. We know whose side we are on — so does this group — and we’re on the side of police, and we’re on the side of the public safety of the American people.”

After expressing reluctance in May to get too deeply involved in immigration enforcement decisions, the judge who issued Tuesday’s ruling was clearly influenced by Trump’s reversal last week and the Homeland Security Department’s statement on its family reunification plan Saturday night, which, he said, left many questions unanswered.

“This situation has reached a crisis level. The news media is saturated with stories of immigrant families being separated at the border. People are protesting. Elected officials are weighing in. Congress is threatening action,” he wrote.

Outraged by the family separations, immigrant supporters have led protests in recent days in states such as Florida and Texas. In Los Angeles, police arrested 25 demonstrators at rally Tuesday ahead of Sessions’ address.

Outside the U.S. attorney’s office, protesters carried signs reading, “Free the children!” and “Stop caging families.” Clergy members blocked the street by forming a human chain. Police handcuffed them and led them away.

Later, protesters gathered outside the hotel where Sessions gave his speech. As the attorney general’s motorcade arrived, the crowd chanted, “Nazi, go home.”

Weissert reported from Harlingen, Texas. Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Robin McDowell in Austin, Texas; Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California; and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Eighteen attorneys general, representing seventeen U.S. states and Washington DC, sue the Trump administration over migrant family separations at the U.S. border with Mexico. The litigants demand around 2,000 migrant children be reunited with their families.