LANSING, MI -- Despite the president's executive order Wednesday to keep detained families together, an estimated 45 additional children could still be sent to Michigan transitional care this fall.

Michigan currently is home to 54 children in transitional care who have been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, said Executive Director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) Agustin Arbulu. Some of the children are younger than 1 year old.

The state's civil rights department announced it would assess the impact of the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy and separation of families at the border Tuesday.

In speaking directly with Michigan care providers, the department has started identifying trends and potential civil rights issues -- including the average age of these children, the time it takes to re-establish contact with parents and the likely increase in those sent to Michigan, Arbulu said.

"We have learned that additional requests are being made for additional children to be brought in. So you'll see that 54 increasing," Arbulu said.

The executive order hopes to maintain the zero-tolerance policy of prosecuting all illegal entry violations, but also hopes to keep parents and their children together when detained, which could create legal issues.

But the order does not override a 1993 Supreme Court case, Flores vs. Reno, which ruled children cannot be held more than 20 days in government detention facilities. The order applies to children who arrive at the border with or without their parents, according to a 2016 ruling.

"In some ways, the president's executive order has only kicked the can down that road for 20 days," Arbulu said. "So it's going to come back around again unless there's some action taken."

The department also found it can take up to three to four weeks to re-establish contact between separated children and their parents.

"We see the separation creating trauma," Arbulu said. "Re-establishing communication is really a challenge and continues to be a challenge. The fact that there is a gap of three weeks is troublesome."

Bethany Christian Services, a global nonprofit based in Grand Rapids that provides foster care, adoption, resettlement and other services, is currently assisting these displaced children.

Civil rights department officials have been in communication with Bethany Christian Services and other transitional care services in Michigan during its assessment.

Arbulu said the average age of children Bethany Christian Services has in its transitional care program, which allows refugees and immigrants to be temporarily placed in foster homes, was 12 years old last year.

Now, that age is 7 years old.

Bethany’s Response to the Executive Order Keeping Families Together. #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/jSY46281uf — Bethany (@Bethany) June 21, 2018

"You're getting younger children -- it's on account of the zero-tolerance policy that has been implemented in the last 40-some days," Arbulu said. "What you're seeing now is children that are more vulnerable coming in, less able to communicate and advocate for themselves."

Arbulu said it's unclear whether that age will continue to drop as more children come to Michigan.

In the MDCR's Tuesday statement, Arbulu said some of the children transported to Michigan are as young as 3 months old.

Bethany Christian Services officials said they were unavailable for an interview until next week.

Arbulu said the Michigan Department of Civil Right's role is about monitoring, watching and educating. And if violations of the rights of these children are suspected, the role becomes more about correction.

"We could investigate and issue our findings and maybe institute some corrective action that would be meaningful," Arbulu said. "The goal is to change the behavior. If there's something that requires correction, then let's correct it."