Federal Court Rules Potentially Thousands More Families Covered Under ACLU Lawsuit



SAN DIEGO — A federal court has rejected the Trump administration’s claim that it has no responsibility for potentially thousands more children and parents ripped apart under its family separation policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sought the order following a recent government watchdog report that concluded families were being separated many months earlier than previously disclosed. The ACLU argued the government must account for those families. In his ruling today, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw agreed to expand the class to cover these newly reported families.

Lee Gelernt, lead attorney in the family separation lawsuit and deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, had this reaction:



“The court made clear that potentially thousands of children’s lives are at stake and that the Trump administration cannot simply ignore the devastation it has caused.”

The ruling is at: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/ms-l-v-ice-order-class-status

More information is at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice