[Blitzer:] Tonight, the Trump administration is still struggling to reunite families after missing a deadline to return the youngest children to their parents. We heard the health and human services secretary claim right here in THE SITUATION ROOM that the process is a great act of generosity and charity for immigrant children. Separated families, though, are angrily disputing that. Let's go straight to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's in Texas, near the southern border. Ed, you've been seeing some of the family reunions and you've also been hearing some heartbreaking stories.
[Ed Lavandera, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes, emotional day of a few of the stories we've been able to gather of those families reunited. The last number we had, 38 children have been reunited with their families. That's far short of the 102 that the federal government was mandated to have reunited by yesterday, almost 24 hours ago. And what's even more remarkable, Wolf, today is that despite our efforts to ask about how many more reunions have taken place, we have received no updates from the federal government today.
[Lavandera:] Two fathers, one from Guatemala, other from Honduras, were some of the few who have been reunited with their children in El Paso, Texas. Pablo Ortiz says he was separated from his 3-year-old son on April 30th and says he was only able to speak with him three times. He says they were going to deport me, but since my child was here, I couldn't leave him. I wanted to take my child, how am I going to leave him? He's little. This man who only wanted to be identified at Roger says his son was taken away from him in February. They took me by the arm, he says. They took me by the shoulder and took me to a small room. I saw when they took my child, because there was really a small window. In Arizona, Joshua Rodriguez hugged and kissed his three-year-old son after separated 40 days. He says his son has asked, daddy where were you? Rodriguez described the experience as nightmare. We're humans, not animals, he says. And not even animals are separated from their child. How are humans going to be separated from kid? Trump administration officials say the process of reuniting separated families is moving slowly in part because of efforts to verify that children are being placed with their biological parents. The secretary of health and human services says he's proud of the work the federal government has done to bring families back together.
[Alex Azar, Health And Human Services Secretary:] One of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we're doing for these unaccompanied kids who are smuggled in to our country or come across illegally. And so, we don't have anything to hide about it. We just have to protect privacy.
[Lavandera:] For the lucky families who have been reunited, the trauma seems far from over. One mother told "The New York Times" her 3-year- old son didn't know who she was. He didn't recognize me. My joy turned temporarily to sadness. Another mother said her 3-year-old daughter cried for the social worker and tried to escape her mother's embrace, an embrace many are still waiting for. And, Wolf, the federal government is expected back in court later this week, to update that judge in California that issued these mandates for these reunions to take place to an update. Yesterday, that same judge was wondering why 63 of the 102 couldn't have been reunited by yesterday. But as I mentioned off the top, still no word if more than 38 children so far have been reunited across the southern border Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Yes, that's heartbreaking stories. They continue. Ed Lavandera, thank you very much. Just ahead, is President Trump a captive to Russia? We'll talk about his slams on Germany, and on NATO, this upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin. CNN's Chris Cuomo, he's standing by live.