The Trump administration is required to restart legal and social service contracts for thousands of immigrant families separated during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. That’s the latest ruling to come from a years-long court case over the so-called zero-tolerance policy.
Thousands of families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and other states under the zero tolerance policy — which allowed border officers to refer immigrant adults for criminal prosecution and send their children to separate facilities.
A lawsuit led by the ACLU sought to reunite families and provide legal aid and other benefits to help them stay in the US. They reached a settlement agreement with the Biden administration.
“There are thousands of families who have been reunited but unfortunately we believe there are hundreds who remain separated this many years later because we are still trying to find them,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney the ACLU and lead counsel in the case.
He says now the agreement is now in jeopardy.
“The Trump administration has now come in and tried to blow up the settlement by canceling contracts for legal service providers and social service providers that are essential,” he said.
Gelernt says contracts were ended starting in April. As first reported by Courthouse News, a federal court ordered services to resume last Thursday and a status hearing is scheduled Friday.
Gelernt says families risk getting separated again if services don’t resume soon, because deadlines for asylum applications are coming up. He says the ACLU could return to court to ask for those deadlines to be extended.
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