HHS: Number of undocumented children in federal custody up slightly

The total number of migrant children in the care of the federal Health and Human Services department is up slightly since last week.

An HHS spokesperson said Thursday the department has 11,869 children in its care currently. That’s about 70 more children than HHS officials reported on Wednesday of last week.

The numbers show that there doesn’t appear to be much progress reuniting children separated from their parents despite a recent court order.

Most of the children arrived at the southwest border unaccompanied, a recurring migration problem year after year.

The latest HHS numbers don’t provide a breakdown of the children separated from their parents as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar told lawmakers this Tuesday that number was 2,047.