[U X2] DEADLINE DAY: All Children -- Now Including 5 to 17 Year Olds -- Due Back To Their Parents.

LATE NIGHT EASTERN ON THURSDAY: The status report filed tonight indicates as many as 711 children aged 0 to 17 have not been reunited by the court's deadline. The lists STILL also indicate that as to 40 children, the government didn't bother to preserve parental information, at all (and thus has provided none to the ACLU lawyers) -- no name, Asylum number, or location. The lists also contain at least 12 children for whom the parent’s Asylum number is listed, but no name or location.

Deplorable. And 100 per cent completely. . . avoidable. These are ongoing crimes against humanity. [End, last update.]

We will know late in the day, Pacific time on Friday, how the able judges Gee and Sabraw (sitting in LA and SD, respectively) will have ruled, but it simply makes sense to allow seven days, post-reunification, for families to meet and confer with lawyers -- as to whether they will seek asylum; allow removal or take some other path.

It is also a hallmark of our justice system that one's rights are per force curtailed, when one is denied meaningful access to competent counsel, especially in a field as complicated as the currently evolving immigration and asylum practices. From an Arizona paper quoting the ACLU today:

. . . .The ACLU argues parents who haven't seen their children in months need time to consult with lawyers to figure out their legal options, including whether they should fight their deportation, be deported together or accept deportation but leave their child behind with relatives in the U.S. to pursue asylum on their own. . . .

"The government took children, including babies, from their parents and did not return them for weeks and often months," the ACLU court filing said. "The government should not now be able to argue that it cannot wait a mere seven days to remove these families, so that they can be advised on their life-altering decisions. . . ."

Indeed. Onward -- see the bottom of this one, for a near term blogging forecast update. Travel well -- but travel light.

Noon update: Judge Sabraw's order -- ". . .ORDER Following Status Conference. A status conference was held on July 24, 2018. On or before July 25, 2018, at noon, Defendants shall provide to Plaintiffs (1) a list of all Class Members that have been removed and (2) a list of all Class Members that have been released to the interior. On or before July 25, 2018, at noon, Plaintiffs shall file their reply brief on the motion to stay. The Court will hear argument on the motion at the July 27, 2018 status conference. Signed by Judge Dana M. Sabraw on 7/25/2018. . . ."

नमस्ते