The Trump administration knows "where every single child" separated at the border is, GOP Sen. James Lankford said Sunday.
Asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd whether the Trump administration had been supplying Congress with specific details on children separated at the border resulting from its "zero tolerance" effort, Lankford told Todd the administration knew where every child was located.
"Let me clarify this," the Oklahoma Republican said on “Meet the Press.” "We know where every single child is."
Lankford said there is an incorrect assumption that the Trump administration "lost track" of the children.
"These are career professionals that work with HHS, and that work with DHS in Customs and Border Patrol and ICE – these are not political appointees," Lankford said. "These are career folks. They know where every child is, to be able to connect them to their parent or their relative that came."
Todd asked Lankford to clarify whether it was still unknown where some of the children’s parents were, Lankford again said the contrary.
"It’s known of the adult they came with," he said, before specifying that it’s not known if all the children arrived at the border with their own parents. "But yes, we do know how to be able to connect the people they came with.”
President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order halting family separations at the border, after public outcry over a "zero tolerance" policy announced in April that had led to the forcible separation of children from their parents. Late Saturday, the administration said 522 children had been reunited with their families. Parents or guardians trying to determine if a child is in the custody of Homeland Security were told they should contact the Office of Refugee Resettlement National Call Center at 1-800-203-7001 or information@ORRNCC.com.
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