In brief
A judge in San Diego has ruled that three families affected by the Trump administration's border separation policy should be allowed to return to the U.S. after being unlawfully deported. The court found that their deportations relied on deception, and ordered the government to bear the costs of their return. Each family had been separated at the border in 2018, and the judge emphasized that their removals were unlawful, noting that they should still have access to benefits and resources in the U.S.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A judge says the federal government must return three families hurt by the first Trump administration’s policy of separating parents from the children at the border, saying their deportations in recent months relied on “lies, deception and coercion.”
The order, issued Thursday, found the deported families should have been allowed to remain in the United States under terms of a legal settlement over the Trump administration’s separation of about 6,000 children from their parents at the border in 2018. Each mother had permission to remain in the U.S. until 2027 under humanitarian parole.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego said the administration also had to pay for their return travel costs.
One woman and her three children, including a 6-year-old U.S. citizen, were deported to Honduras in July after being ordered to check in with ICE at least 11 times over two months, which, she said, caused her to lose her job.
Sabraw rejected the government’s argument that the family left the U.S. voluntarily. The woman said ICE officers visited her home and asked her to sign a document agreeing to leave but she refused.
The judge stated, “This did not make any difference to these officers. They took me and my children to a motel and removed my ankle monitor. They detained us for three days and then removed us to Honduras.”
The other two families, identified only by their initials, also faced similar circumstances.
“Each of the removals was unlawful, and absent the removals, these families would still be in the United States and have access to the benefits and resources they are entitled to,” wrote Sabraw, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who represents the families, welcomed the decision, saying, “The Trump administration has never acknowledged the illegality or gratuitous cruelty of the initial family separation policy and now has started re-deporting and re-separating these same families. The Court put its foot down and not only ordered the families return but did so at government expense.”
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
