US judge orders separated families be reunited
AFP
LOS ANGELES: A US judge has ordered that migrant families separated at the border with Mexico under President Donald Trumps zero tolerance policy be reunited within 30 days, reports AFP.
For children under five, reunification must take place within two weeks of the order issued Tuesday by US District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego.
Sabraw made the sternly worded decision in response to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a seven-year-old girl who was separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his Brazilian mother.
The judge also issued an injunction against any more family separations, which was part of a policy under which anyone crossing the border illegally is detained and referred for criminal prosecution.
US federal authorities have 10 days to allow parents to call their children if they are not already in touch with them, the judge said. Trump last week signed an executive order halting his governments practice of taking children away from parents who cross the border without papers, even to seek asylum. Many are destitute people fleeing gang violence and other turmoil in Central America.
It was a rare retreat for Trump, who has made fighting immigrationboth illegal and legalone of the most sacred mantras of his fiercely US-centered policy agenda.
But the order made no specific provisions for families already separated under the policy, which sparked heated criticism in America and worldwide as inhumane and even a form of child abuse. More than 2,000 children taken from their families remain under the care of federal authorities. Some are just toddlers, or even infants.
