Federal judge moves to block migrant family separations for next 8 years
A federal judge in San Diego has moved to end separating migrant families at the U.S. border for the next eight years, heading off a possible reinstatement of a policy implemented by former president — and potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate — Donald Trump.
On Dec. 8, U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw of the Southern District of California tentatively approved an October settlement reached between the U.S. Department of Justice and families represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The settlement concluded the class action suit Ms. L. vs. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, filed nearly seven years ago on behalf of some 4,500 to 5,000 children and their families, who were forcibly separated from each other under what the Trump administration called its “zero-tolerance” policy on unauthorized immigration at the U.S. border.
Sabraw had ordered an end to the separations in June 2018, with then-President Trump having suspended them on his own after international outrage.
Among those weighing in at the time was Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, and then-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, who in a June 1, 2018 statement said that “forcibly separating children from their mothers and fathers is ineffective to the goals of deterrence and safety and contrary to our Catholic values.”
“Family unity is a cornerstone of our American immigration system and a foundational element of Catholic teaching,” said Bishop Vásquez in his statement at the time. “Children are not instruments of deterrence but a blessing from God.”
In his 2018 ruling, Sabraw had directed the government to reunite affected children and families within 30 days — sparking a chaotic process that revealed children had been placed in shelters nationwide, with government databases for tracking them left unlinked.
Limited circumstances — such as suspected child abuse, serious criminal convictions of the parent, or doubts about the adult’s claim to be the actual parent — will continue to permit separations.
Under the settlement, affected families may be eligible for up to three years of humanitarian parole in the U.S., reunification at U.S. government expense, one year of housing, three years of counseling and legal aid in immigration court.
However, the settlement does not provide financial compensation for affected families — something considered by the Biden administration in 2021 but ultimately opted not to implement.
This article was written by Gina Christian, a national reporter for OSV News.
Featured image: A migrant woman reacts as she walks through the Rio Grande with her family in an attempt to seek asylum into the U.S., as seen from Piedras Negras, Mexico Sept. 29, 2023. (OSV News photo/Daniel Becerril, Reuters)
