US 'Task Force' Created to Reunite Migrant Kids With Parents

The Department of US Health and Human Services has created an "unaccompanied children reunification task force," a first step toward reunifying thousands of migrant children in the agency's custody with their families.

"The Secretary of Health and Human Services has directed the assistant secretary of Preparedness and Response to assist the ACF Office of Refugee Resettlement with unaccompanied children reunification," the HHS internal memo reads.

The agency's Emergency Management Group, which operates out of the HHS secretary's operations center, also was activated.

The news comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week stopping all family separations. He told reporters, "I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated."

But questions have swirled over whether HHS is prepared to reunite around 2,300 children with their families, and whether the department's refugee office has the resources or leadership to handle the challenge.

Democrats on Thursday called for a government audit of the health department's process to track separated families, such as whether the refugee office has been keeping a master list of children separated from their parents.