CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on immigrant parents and children separated at the U.S. border (all times local):
5 p.m.
The White House says a judge’s order requiring thousands of migrant families who were forcibly separated to be reunited within 30 days “further complicates” efforts at effective enforcement of immigration laws.
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters declined to say whether the administration will be able to abide by the deadline.
She told reporters aboard Air Force One that the ruling “clearly shows the need for congressional action to fix our broken immigration system.”
She added that “the injunction must be removed immediately or we can’t keep the country safe.”
The judge mandated that all families be reunited within 30 days and children under 5 be reunited with their parents within 14 days. He also issued a nationwide injunction against further family separations in most circumstances.
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4:30 p.m.
A Democratic congresswoman was among about 575 people arrested at a rally protesting the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy on immigration.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state tweeted Thursday that she was proud to be arrested to protest the policy that has separated families at the southern border.
She and other protesters were charged with unlawful demonstration, a charge that includes crowding or obstructing others in a public place.
Jayapal says she and other protesters were “here to fight for our families to be free, to fight for the ability of our kids to be with their parents — not in cages, not in prison, but able to live their lives free, safe and secure.”
Police say those who were arrested were processed on the scene and released.
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