HI. THEY STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN THE BABIES BACK. ATTENTION MUST THE FUCK BE PAID.

Abolish ICE.

Donald Trump has racked up more winning! for America with the news that the government deported up to 463 migrant parents before they could be reunited with their kids. NBC reports the government may argue that since the parents are no longer in US detention, a judge's order to reunite them with their kids just plain doesn't apply. To own the libs.

The deadline for all families to be reunited is this Thursday. In a court filing Monday, Justice Department attorneys issued another update on the status of kids and parents in the ACLU's lawsuit against Trump's family separation policy, and said parents not in the US might be listed as either eligible or not eligible for reunification. Their cases are still being reviewed, you see.

Note also those 130 parents who allegedly "waived reunification." That's a reference to the Sophie's Choice forms ICE gave parents in detention; they could either "request" to be deported with their children or "request" to be deported without their kids, and no, they weren't given a box to request they stay in the US while their asylum case is considered, because the generals from Catch-22 work for ICE now. The ACLU's lead attorney, Lee Gelernt, asked Friday to interview the parents who supposedly decided they'd just as soon be deported and let their kids take their chances at getting asylum all alone:

"We would like to know how many of those 136 still remain in the country and how many have been removed," Gelernt said. "We had hoped to talk each to them about whether they were fully aware of what is going on when they made the momentous decision to not even see their child again."

US District Judge Dana Sabraw said Friday he agreed it was worth finding out whether those parents made "an informed decision," but held off on a ruling on the matter because he first wants ICE to concentrate on reunifying the over 1,600 children whose parents' eligibility ICE doesn't question.

The government is scheduled to update Judge Sabraw again in a hearing today to tell the court how the reunifications are going, and should provide more detail on the 463 cases that were still "under review" -- like at least a breakdown of how many were actually deported and how many remain in the US.

The ACLU, in its filing yesterday, complained the administration still hasn't given it an actual list of the parents who have been deported, which the government said it would prepare in Friday's hearing. Guess the dog went and ate the government's homework yet again. WaPo notes that with yesterday's filing, the government seems to be claiming that as many as a fifth of the children taken from their parents under "zero tolerance" may be kept from returning to their families, which is, in layperson's terms, fucking insane .

In related news, the right is having itself a fine hissy fit after National Republican Congressional Committee chair Matt Gorman tweeted video of US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand talking about reforming ICE.

Well, there you have it: Sen. Gillibrand: If Dems Gain Control, “The First Thing We Should Do Is…Get Rid Of ICE” https://t.co/odqIjTDRQr

— Matt Gorman (@Matt Gorman) 1532357036.0 

Why yes, Matt Gorman. There we do!

[ NBC News / WaPo / Matt Gorman on Twitter]

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