maria villarreal has our report. >> reporter: in court, the government admitted they will not be able to meet a federal judge's deadline to reunite all kids under 5 years old who were separated from their parents at the border. aclu attorneys are suing the government on behalf of migrant families. >> the government is planning on reuniting, at most, 59 of the 102 kids they've identified who are under 5 years old. >> reporter: the u.s. department of health and human services says more than 40 kids will remain in their custody past the deadline. their reason? the parents of nine children have been deported or haven't been found, 12 are facing criminal charges, 9 others have been released into the country but the government has lost track of them. still, hhs says they are carefully vetting parents to protect child safety. the government also faces a july 26th deadline for the rest of the nearly 3,000 separated minors. >> i'm very worried about her. because i know that she's suffering. >> reporter: mario is one of those parents. he hasn't seen his daughter in nearly a month after they cro