Deep into the extraordinary effort to locate deported parents who remain separated from their children, attorneys are learning that about two-thirds want their children to stay in the U.S. rather than reunite as a family in their homelands.

“We’ve had some very difficult conversations with parents this week, where the parent is ultimately saying, as much as they’d like to be with the child and as heartbreaking as it is, it’s too dangerous for the child to come back,” Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told a San Diego federal judge Friday.

The decisions underscore something government officials have long argued: that migrant families from Mexico and Central America who cross illegally into the U.S. do so largely to get their children across. Having the children flown back to their home countries — where many say they are fleeing gang violence — would seem counterproductive to the parents, even if it results in long-term separation.

Gelernt said parents with older children tend to lean more toward keeping them in the U.S. because of their vulnerability to gang recruitment. Parents of younger children tend to opt for reunification.


Also, the presence of a suitable relative or guardian in the U.S. to care for the child is an important factor parents consider.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in June ordered all children separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration’s immigration policies to be reunited, once the parents were out of criminal custody on their illegal entry prosecutions.

The first phase of the effort focused on parents who were in immigration custody. Within a month, some 2,000 children in government shelters were reunited. But about 400 additional parents had been deported before being reunited.

Now, attorneys and other volunteers are in the midst of trying to find those parents and provide them legal counsel as to their options. The legal counsel has been especially important at this stage, attorneys for the ACLU say, because many parents have reported being coerced into making decisions they don’t understand.


People demonstrate in front of the federal courthouse and sing lullabies on Friday in San Diego. The multifaith groups were protesting the 400-plus children who remain separated from their parents. (Eduardo Contreras/U-T)

Of the 162 deported parents who have made a decision on reunification, 109 thus far have opted to allow their children to stay in the U.S. Children who stay will be allowed to pursue asylum claims, during which they will live in government shelters or be placed with family members or foster families. If they lose their asylum cases, then they would be reunited back home.

“It’s one of those decisions these parents are facing,” Gelernt said. “It is extremely difficult. They obviously are not making it lightly but they are too scared to let their children come back.”

Fifty-three parents so far have chosen to reunite, which means having their children flown home. Reunions have already been happening, slowly.


Attorneys are still struggling to make contact with 47 parents.

Gelernt, who has led the litigation for the ACLU, got a first-hand look at the difficulties involved. He spent the past week in Guatemala, where volunteers are navigating treacherous roads, distrustful communities and remote villages to find parents in person.

In some areas, gangs who control the region put curfews on people going out at night, he said, presenting difficulties for parents who work all day, or for outsiders to come in and start asking probing questions.

During the hearing Friday, Sabraw asked if the government was leveraging all available resources to help in the search effort.


“We’re going to reach a time in the not-too-distant future where a number of parents are not located,” the judge said. “That’s not in anyone’s interest and particularly so for the government since this is a situation of its own making. What I would like to know is if there anything else that can be done that we’re not presently doing to locate these parents?”

Assistant Deputy Attorney General Scott Stewart assured the judge that the government was “putting a lot of work into this” and that there are limitations to the roles U.S. authorities can take in foreign countries. He said authorities remain open to suggestions.

Gelernt said an even greater push for ads on local radio stations and billboards might help.

Meanwhile, the ACLU is taking another look at a smaller group of children who have not been reunited because the government deemed their parents unfit for criminal backgrounds or other reasons. Attorneys will begin reviewing the reasons for denials in as many as 50 cases and are expected to argue on behalf of some that reunifications are warranted.


The ACLU has already identified two such cases that it is asking the judge to rule on. One involves a 4-year-old child whose mother was denied reunification based on an outstanding warrant from abroad alleging she is a gang member. The judge in her U.S. immigration case found that the warrant was not sufficient evidence that she was a danger to the community, the ACLU said.

The second case involves a 2-year-old boy whose father initially showed red-flags for parentage and later was denied reunification due to a 2010 guilty plea to an assault not related to his child.

Outside the courthouse Friday, 18 protesters with Define American and the Families Belong Together coalition sang “Rock-a-bye baby” and other lullabies. The demonstration kicked off a week of multifaith prayer vigils and singing to protest the continued separations.

“The Week of Witness will send messages of love and support to those in detention that may feel unwelcome or alone,” organizers said in a statement.


No one involved in the lawsuit saw the protest, as the attorneys appeared at the hearing telephonically.


kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis