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3-year-old boys in Grand Rapids foster care wait for reunification with fathers

Immigrant children in Grand Rapids foster care waiting for reunification with parents on deadline day, July 10.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - On Tuesday July 10, a pair of 3-year-old immigrant children in Grand Rapids foster care are supposed to be reunited with their parents.

But it is not certain that will happen.

The 3-year-old boys were separated from their fathers at the Texas border and put in temporary foster care in Grand Rapids though Bethany Christian Services. Last month a judge gave the government 14 days to reunite children under age 5 with their parents. Tuesday is day 14. The fathers, who are from Honduras, were transferred to the Calhoun County jail in Battle Creek to await reunification.

“So, we are at the eleventh hour waiting for this reunification,” says their lawyer, ACLU Immigration Attorney Abril Valdes.

“At this point, I don’t know where or when it is going to take place. The government is using these children as pawns and I think that is disgusting.”

The government has until Tuesday to reunite about 100 children under age 5 with their parents, and until July 26 to reunite older children. But a government lawyer for the Trump administration said that they will likely miss the first deadline.

Federal authorities have already reunited two families, and they expect to do 59 more by Tuesday's deadline, falling short of meeting the goal.

The administration is also bracing for another deadline in two weeks to reunite nearly 3,000 older children —up to age 17—with their parents.

After reunification, it's expected the families will be released from custody while their immigration case moves through the system.

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