A San Diego federal judge gave final approval Friday to a settlement prohibiting the forced separation of migrant families at the southern border.
The settlement, which stems from a long-running lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, limits such separations for the next eight years except in certain circumstances. It also holds that efforts will continue to locate and reunify separated family members and assist them in obtaining asylum and other support services.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said during a Friday court hearing in which he signed off on the settlement that the case represented “one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country.”
In 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union sued to halt the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which left thousands of children separated from their parents or guardians while the adults faced criminal prosecution for illegally crossing the border.
The lawsuit led to an injunction issued by Sabraw that ended the practice.
The judge praised both sides Friday for reaching the agreement, which he said “is the closest that we can possibly do under the circumstances to restore justice.”
Lee Gelernt, deputy director director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement, “While this settlement alone can’t fix the unfathomable damage done to these children, it does provide hope and support that didn’t exist before. But there remains enormous work ahead to implement this settlement, including reuniting the hundreds of children who are still separated from their loved ones after all these years. No family should be forced to go through this nightmare and tragedy ever again.”
On Friday, attorneys representing the plaintiffs said the parents of 68 non-citizen children have still not been located, as well as the parents of 297 children who are U.S. citizens. Gelernt said that efforts will also get underway to identify a number of other families that may now fall under the terms of the settlement.
The ACLU estimates that more than 5,000 children were separated from their parents as a result of the zero-tolerance policy.
