EL PASO, Texas — The Trump administration worked Thursday to meet a court-imposed deadline to reunite thousands of children and parents forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Authorities have identified 2,551 children 5 and older who may be covered by the order, which requires them to be reunited with their parents by the end of day.

But by focusing only those deemed by the government to be “eligible” for reunification, federal officials were expected to claim success.

As of Tuesday, 1,012 parents had been reunified with children in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Hundreds more had been cleared and were just waiting on transportation.

Meanwhile, the Homeland Security Department’s internal watchdog said it would review the separation of families, along with the conditions at Border Protection facilities where migrant children are held, in response to scores of congressional requests to do so.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told members of Congress on Wednesday that the administration was “on track” to meet the deadline, an assertion that was greeted with disbelief and anger by the all-Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus, according to people who attended.

Nielsen declined to comment to reporters as she left the closed-door meeting.

The families are generally released, and parents are typically given ankle-monitoring bracelets and court dates before an immigration judge.

But confusion and fear linger after reunification.

Jose Dolores Munoz, 36, from El Salvador, was reunited with his 7-year-old daughter Friday, nearly two months after they were separated.

His daughter cries when he leaves the house because she thinks he’s not coming back.

“She is afraid,” Munoz said in Spanish. “Yesterday I left her crying, she is telling me, ‘You are not coming back. You are lying. You are leaving me.’”