A federal judge says the Trump administration must bring back three deported families who should have been allowed to remain in the United States under a court settlement involving the separation of children from their parents at the border.

A federal judge is prohibiting the separation of families at the border for purposes of deterring immigration for eight years.

Most of the parents were deported to their Central American homelands, and their children were placed with sponsors in the U.S., often relatives. But it was later discovered an additional 1,556 children were taken from their parents going back to summer 2017, including the 545 kids who are still separated. The administration’s foot-dragging has made it even tougher to find the parents because of how much time has passed, he said. The judge called for an update on Dec. 2 and set another hearing for Dec. 4 to discuss the progress. Just nine parents separated from their children were allowed back in January.

MCALLEN, Texas – Less than 24 hours is left for the federal government to reunite migrant children who were separated from their parents due to the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy. On June 26, federal judge Dana Sabraw imposed a series of deadlines for the administration, giving the government a month to reunite hundreds of children with their families. Less than a week after the ruling, national nonprofit organization American Civil Liberties Union posted four billboards -- two in English and two in Spanish -- directed toward the U.S. Border Patrol in McAllen, Texas. SERIES➡️https://t.co/cyhXtWpDZR #KSATBorderJourney pic.twitter.com/Ij9kAdCFht — Adrian Garcia (@adrianrolgarcia) July 23, 2018“Border Patrol: Children belong with families, not in jails,” the billboards say. AdThe ACLU has been vocal on its social media pages, calling the family separations “cruel and inhumane policies.”The Trump administration faces a deadline of this Thursday, July 26, to reunite all children separated by the administration’s cruel and inhuman policies.