mireya villareal now on one family r oneu rep.ter: this is the first meal bernardino contreras trejo and his 4-year-old daughter fernanda have shared together in nearly a month. after fleeing the violence in honduras, they presented themselves at a texas border checkpoint last month and asked for asylum. they were split up for 27 days. last night they were reunited. you spent most of the night last night reassuring her they were together that. >> weren't going to be separated anymore and everything was going to be okay. >> reporter: on the ride to the airport, they told me how hard it was to be separated. >> he had to lie to his daughter and tell her that he was going to come and get her soon to go with the agent. they were going to go get cookies, and that he would be back and meet with her soon. >> reporter: they were able to speak by phone just once. do you regret it? no. he says he doesn't regret it because he knows even if he has to go back, that she will stay here and that she'll be safe. this will be fernanda's first plane ride. they're headed to maryland to live with family w

here's mireya villareal. >> reporter: just this week carla de velasquez h her 12-year-old daughter after being separated for over a month. immigration attorneys are quick to point out reunions like this aren't happening fast enough. today the u.s. health and human services secretary alex azar confirmed there are still under 3,000 immigrant children separated from their parents in federal custody. about 100 of those are under the age of 5. to comply with a federal court order children 4 and under must be reunited with their parents by next tuesday. and those between the ages of 5 and 17 by july 26th. >> while i know there's been talk of confusion, again, any confusion is due to a broken immigration system and court orders. we know our mission. we know our tasks, and we're executing on it. >> reporter: to speed up the reunification process deputy director for children's programs commander jonathan white says they're using dna testing to verify family connections. >> hhs and in some cases dhs health care personnel collects those via cheek swab. it is painless and harmless to the >> reporter

here's mireya villareal. >> reporter: in court today 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 attorney lee gelernt is suing the government on behalf of migrant families. zplt 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 for nine children have been deported and haven't. found. 12 parents a faccr in the coun but the government has lost track of them. still, hhs says they are carefully vetting parents to protect child safety. the government is also facing a july 26 deadline for the rest of the nearly 3,000 separated minors. >> i'm very worried about her. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> 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 crossed