WEB DESK

United States Friday said hundreds of families it broke up at the border with Mexico have not been reunited as a court-ordered deadline to return all children to their parents elapsed last night.

A federal judge in California had ordered that all eligible migrant families be brought back together. Officials said in a court filing that 1,442 children aged five and older had been reunited with their families.

A further 378 children had already been released under other “appropriate circumstances,” the filing said, but more than 700 children remain in custody.