A federal court order in California temporarily stopped most family separations at the southern border with Mexico and ordered the reunification of all families that have been separated, dealing a blow to the Trump administration which has lately come under harsh criticism for its practice of separating immigrant children from their parents.
The court order from late Tuesday specifically requires federal officials to stop detaining parents apart from their minor children, reunify minor children under the age of 5 with their parent within 14 days and reunify all parents with their minor children age 5 and older within 30 days. It also instructs officials to allow parents to speak with their children by phone within 10 days.
“Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, and that the balance of equities and the public interest weigh in their favor, thus warranting issuance of a preliminary injunction,” U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw wrote Tuesday.
The court also prohibited the deportation of parents without their children, saying that in the future children can only be separated from a parent if that parent poses a threat to the child. Children must be released to parents who are released from Department of Homeland Security custody, ABC News reports. However, the order still requires that people who illegally enter the country be prosecuted.
“This Order does not implicate the Government’s discretionary authority to enforce immigration or other criminal laws, including its decisions to release or detain class members,” the judge explained. “Rather, the Order addresses only the circumstances under which the Government may separate class members from their children, as well as the reunification of class members who are returned to immigration custody upon completion of any criminal proceedings.”
According to Sabraw, the injunction was necessary because President Donald Trump’s recent order focused more on reunifying families only when they are deported and not during the intervening time. It also contained too many loopholes, the judge said.
The case against the Trump administration was originally filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in February. Lee Gelernt, the Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, called the ruling “an enormous victory for parents and children who thought they may never see each other again.”
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