The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) appeared before a federal judge on Tuesday in an effort to block the Trump administration from carrying out further forcible separations of migrant families at the border, NBC News reported.
As part of their case, the ACLU cited more than 900 children who have been separated from their families despite a court order stopping this practice having been issued just last year.
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Back In June of 2018, a federal judge ruled to block the Trump administration from splitting up migrant families.
The injunction, which was signed by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabra , called for a temporary block of forcible separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, and required the Trump administration reunite those families which had been split up.
In her ruling, Sabraw cited the confusion surrounding what qualifies family separation, as well as the lack of an established process to reunite parents with their children.
Under the terms of the injunction, the Justice Department may still prosecute parents on immigration charges upon arrival with their children, but only be separated from those children for a brief time while appearing before a federal judge and serving those charges, likely only for a few days.
The ACLU’s more than 200-page filing described a total of 911 migrant children who have been separated from their parents via a loophole in the system.
The startling number of children, which also includes infants, have been removed from the care of their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border since last June because those parents had a criminal history or showed signs of disease or neglect.
“The government is systematically separating large numbers of families based on minor criminal history, highly dubious allegations of unfitness, and errors in identifying bona fide parent-children relationships,” the ACLU wrote in their filings, and asked the judge to clarify just which conditions should apply to the exception.
Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the lawsuit and deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, condemned the forcible separations.
“It is shocking that the Trump administration continues to take babies from their parents,” he said in a statement to NBC News . “Over 900 more families join the thousands of others previously torn apart by this cruel and illegal policy.”
He added, “The administration must not be allowed to circumvent the court order over infractions like minor traffic violations.”
The ACLU accused the Trump administration of separating young children based on minor violations, such as misdemeanor property damage.
Their attorneys have asked the court to provide clarification and guidance on the criteria for familial separation, as well as reaffirmation of the “basic premise of this Court’s preliminary injunction: that children should not be taken from their parents absent a determination that the parent is genuinely unfit or presents a true danger based on objective facts.”
The startling 911 number of children who have been separated from their families is in stark contrast to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan’s comments to Congress earlier this month in which he said that family separations are now extremely rare.
h/t: NBC News
