Migrant children won't be reunited with parents in custody, Cabinet secretary says

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration will not reunite any migrant children with parents still held in immigrant detention facilities unless federal law is changed, a top administration official told Congress on Tuesday, adding a new level of confusion and fear in the family separation crisis created by the White House.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, testifying on Capitol Hill, provided the clearest statement to date of administration policy and confirmed what immigrant advocates have feared: The only way parents can quickly be reunited with their children is to drop their claims for asylum in the United States and agree to be deported.

If parents pursue asylum claims, administration officials plan to hold them in custody until hearings are complete - a process that can take months and in some instances years because of a backlog of several hundred thousand cases.

And while that