US judge bans immigrant family separations

LOS ANGELES: A federal judge ruled yesterday that United States immigration agents could no longer separate immigrant parents and children caught crossing the border from Mexico illegally, and must reunite those families who had been split up in custody.

United States District Court judge Dana Sabraw granted the American Civil Liberties Union a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit over the separations.

More than 2300 migrant children were separated from parents after the Trump Administration began a ‘‘zerotolerance’’ 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,’’ Sabraw wrote.

‘‘They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Consti tution.’’

Sabraw ordered the Government to reunite parents with their children younger than 5 years old within 14 days, and children 5 years old and older within 30 days.

The Administration can appeal.

A The Trump Administration will not reunite any migrant children with parents still held in immigrant detention facilities unless federal law is changed, a top administration official told Congress yesterday.

Health and human services secretary Alex Azar, testifying on Capitol Hill, provided the clearest statement to date of administration policy and confirmed what immigrant advocates have feared: the only way parents can quickly be reunited with their children is to drop their claims for asylum in the United States and agree to be deported. — Reuters/TCA