(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration said it's willing to send migrant children separated from their parents during a border crossing crackdown back to their native countries, but doesn't want parents who've been deported returning to fetch their kids.
Hundreds of children are still in custody -- many with parents already deported -- months after immigration authorities separated them under President Donald Trump's “zero tolerance” policy.
The government is fighting the American Civil Liberties Union over whether deported adults should be granted amnesty to retrieve their children -- and in some cases, help the minors seek asylum to stay in the U.S.
With more than 500 children still in limbo three weeks after a court-ordered deadline for the government to reunite all families separated during the crackdown, the two sides are haggling in court how to best finish the job. A federal judge in San Diego overseeing the process is set to hear a progress report Friday.
The ACLU disputes the government's contention that giving the parents amnesty will delay reunification efforts.
"Some separated families can only be made whole by returning the parent to the United States," the ACLU said in a court filing. The group said some deported parents agreed to leave the U.S. because they were misled or coerced into thinking that was the only way to get their children back.
--With assistance from Edvard Pettersson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York at pathurtado@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Joe Schneider
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