ACLU: 1,500 more children were taken from parents at border

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union said the Trump administration admitted to a federal court it separated 1,556 more immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border than previously reported.

This number is on top of the roughly 2,700 children known to have been separated from their parents at the U.S. southern border before the ACLU was awarded an injunction against the practice in June 2018. The Trump administration was also ordered to reunite the families within 30 days.

The majority of the children disclosed Thursday are under 12 years of age with more than 200 of them under the age of 5, the ACLU said. It was unknown whether these children have been reunited with their parents.

The admission was made a day before a court-ordered deadline for the Trump administration to identify all migrant children that were separated from their families by U.S. authorities under its "zero tolerance" immigration policy.

San Diego Judge Dana Sabraw informed the Trump administration of the six-month deadline in April that was the result of a class-action lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the families.

"It is shocking that 1,556 more families -- including babies and toddlers -- join the thousands of others already torn apart by this inhumane and illegal policy," ACLU's lead immigrants' rights attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement. "Families have suffered tremendously, and some may never recover. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated."

The new figure follows the ACLU early this month filing a lawsuit against current and former Trump administration officials seeking damages for families separated at the border.