“A federal judge in San Diego ordered immigration agents to stop separating migrant parents and children who have crossed the border from Mexico and to work to reunite families that have already been split up while in custody,” as NBC News and others are reporting.
“U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction late Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by an anonymous woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which pursued it as a class action as U.S. authorities began a ‘zero tolerance’ policy in early May.
“‘The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance — responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government’s own making,’ he wrote. ‘They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution.’
“The injunction orders immigration agents to:
•Stop separating parents and children without an objective finding that a parent is unfit.
•Reunify families with children under age 5 within 14 days.
•Reunify families with children 5 years old and older within 30 days.
•Let parents speak with their children by telephone within 10 days.
“Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, who argued the case, called Sabraw’s ruling ‘an enormous victory for parents and children who thought they may never see each other again.’
“Sabraw, who was appointed to the district court by President George W. Bush, had said in earlier proceedings in the case that the government’s policy ‘tears at the sacred bond between parent and child.’
“A status conference was set for July 6.”
The rest of the article is here.
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