San Diego judge orders Trump administration to reinstate services to separated migrant families

Source: San Diego Union-Bulletin

10 hrs ago


SAN DIEGO — For the second time in as many months, a San Diego federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration is violating several key components of a historic legal settlement aimed at providing legal assistance, social services and a fair chance at asylum to the families who were systematically separated at the border during President Donald Trump’s first term.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw on Thursday ordered the federal government — again — to reinstate lapsed contracts with legal support and social service providers in order to remedy its breach of the settlement agreement. Sabraw said that the Trump administration’s reasons for failing to renew those contracts — such as being cost-prohibitive or allegedly not adhering to the president’s new diversity, equity and inclusion policies — were unjustified.

In reiterating the significance of the settlement agreement, Sabraw repeated his characterization that the first Trump administration’s family separation policy was “one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country.” “It forced the separation of thousands of immigrant parents from their children, many of whom have yet to be reunified, and it caused profound, devastating, and lasting damage to those families,” Sabraw wrote.

“The Settlement Agreement, which was the result of painstaking negotiations between Plaintiffs and the Government, aimed to address that damage by providing these families with certain services at the Government’s expense, including the behavioral health services, assistance with certain medical costs, and housing assistance at issue here.” The judge concluded: “Those obligations continue regardless, and Defendants must comply with them.” The settlement is part of a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed in February 2018.

Read more: https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/san-diego-judge-orders-trump-administration-to-reinstate-services-to-separated-migrant-families/article_45f64534-b357-5705-93fe-71ba3bb3c7fd.html