Judge favors US deal for migrants

A federal judge appears ready to sign off on an agreement to allow more than 1,000 undocumented immigrant families who were separated under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy to get a second chance to apply for asylum.

At a hearing in San Diego, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said Friday the agreement between the administration and lawyers representing immigrant families was “an excellent proposal” and he asked the two sides to write up a draft order for his approval.

The agreement – brokered between the Department of Justice and lawyers for migrant families – will halt deportation proceedings to give another opportunity to parents who failed the first stage of the asylum application process, where they had to demonstrate they have a “credible fear” of returning to their home country.

Lawyers for the parents had argued that they were not able to properly present their cases because they were separated from their children at the time of their interviews. Lawyers said the traumatic experience made it difficult for parents to explain the situation in their home countries.

Under the agreement, federal immigration officials will be required to consider the “psychological state of the parent at the time of the initial interview.”

The proposed deal also provides a small window for the roughly 400 parents who have already been deported to return to the U.S. to make new asylum claims. But those cases will be “rare and unusual” and will require case-by-case reviews by the federal judge overseeing the case.