Some immigrant toddlers in the US are back in the arms of their parents, but others remain in holding facilities away from relatives.
It comes as officials fell short of meeting a court-ordered deadline to reunite dozens of youngsters forcibly separated from their families at the Mexican border.
Ever Reyes Mejia walked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement centre in Michigan on Tuesday, carrying his beaming son and the boy's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles backpack.
Another boy and a girl who had been in temporary foster care were reunited with their Honduran fathers at the centre about three months after they were split up.
The three fathers were "just holding them and hugging them and telling them that everything was fine and that they were never going to be separated again," said immigration lawyer Abril Valdes.
The children were "absolutely thrilled to be with their parents again."
Late last month, US District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego set a 14-day deadline to reunite children under five with their parents and a 30-day deadline for older children.
A reunion in Phoenix. Source: AAP
It isn't immediately clear how many children left detention facilities on Tuesday or how many remain.
Government lawyers, meanwhile, told a federal judge that the Trump administration would not meet the deadline for 20 other children under five because it needs more time to track down parents who have already been deported or released into the US.
The government defended its screening, saying it discovered parents with serious criminal histories, five adults whose DNA tests showed they were not parents of the children they claimed to have, and one case of credible child abuse.
"Our process may not be as quick as some would like, but there is no question it is protecting children," said Chris Meekins, a Health and Human Services Department official.
