The United States is collecting DNA samples from parents and children to comply with a court order directing the government to reunite families that were separated at the country’s border with Mexico, Reuters reported on Friday.

The development comes after widespread criticism against President Donald Trump’s administration for separating children from their parents at the border. It also prompted the government to suspend the separations.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, however, said no family has been reunited yet. Azar said 11,800 minors were in the care of the health department and “under 3,000” had been reported as separated from their families.

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Azar said the reunification procedure needed a “truncated vetting process” and that the government was likely to “seek additional time to ensure that we can do the job that we believe is necessary to protect the children in our care”.

Activists, however, expressed concerns that the DNA data may be misused by the government and some questioned a violation of the children’s rights as they were too young to give their consent for a DNA test.

Controversial measures

In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy that allows authorities to file criminal charges against undocumented immigrants. This led to nearly 2,000 children being separated from their parents in just six weeks.

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The government faced widespread criticism for defending its policy of separating children from their families when they are caught entering the United States without documentation. Investigative news website ProPublica had shared a audio recording of immigrant children from Central America crying inconsolably for their parents at a detention centre on the US-Mexico border.

On June 27, a federal judge in California had ordered United States border authorities to reunite separated immigrant families within 30 days, reported AP. However, in cases of children who are younger than five, the deadline is 14 days.