Lawyers working to reunite migrant families separated by the Trump administration before and during its "zero tolerance" policy at the border now believe the number of separated children for whom they have not been able to find parents is 666, higher than they told a federal judge last month, according to an email obtained by NBC News.
About one third of those children were under five at the time of the separation, according to a source familiar with the data.
In the email, Steven Herzog, the attorney leading efforts to reunite the families, explains that the number is higher because the new group includes those "for whom the government did not provide any phone number." Previously, the lawyers said they could not find the parents of 545 children after they had tried to make contact but had been unsuccessful.
Herzog said in the email to Justice Department attorneys representing the Trump administration, "we would appreciate the government providing any available updated contact infromation, or other information that may be helpful in establishing contact for all 666 of these parents."
