U.S. has nearly 3,000 separated migrant kids, will use DNA to find parents
The U.S. government is reviewing the cases of nearly 3,000 children in its care who say they were separated from their parents when they crossed the U.S. border as it rushes to meet a court imposed deadline to reunite migrant families, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Previously, Azar had told a Senate panel that his agency had 2,047 children remaining to reunify with their parents in the wake of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, but he told reporters on Thursday that the number is larger because a court order has required HHS to reunite all separated migrant children, even those taken from their parents before zero tolerance went into effect in early May. Azar also said that the traditional method of verifying parental claims will take too long so the agency will be conducting DNA tests.
NBCnews
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