Parents and Children Formerly Separated under Trump 1.0 Zero Tolerance Policies Targeted Again by Trump Admin

WASHINGTON, DC — In response to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filing a motion to enforce the Ms. L v. ICE settlement agreement and asking the U.S. District Court of Southern California to require the government to continue providing the Legal Access Services for Reunified Families Program for children and parents who endured intentional separation under the first Trump administration's punitive "zero-tolerance" family separation policy, Kelly Albinak Kribs, Co-Director of the Technical Assistance Program at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, released the following statement: 

“In 2017 and 2018, we witnessed firsthand the immediate and significant trauma these children experienced when they were forcibly and unlawfully taken from their parents. They endured separations lasting months or years. To this day, some children have still not been reunited with their parents. As we've continued to support these families in the years since, we’ve seen how parents have struggled with the heartbreak of having lost years of their son or daughter’s childhood, children have had to rebuild bonds with parents that were shattered, and through it all, the federal government has done little for these families compared to the immense and lasting harm it inflicted on them.  

Through the ACLU’s litigation, separated families won the right to apply for certain types of immigration status that might allow them to remain here, safe and reunited. Critically, the lawsuit also provided families with legal orientation and advice to help them apply for that status. It is unconscionable that in one week, the government will end those legal services, leaving separated families in limbo and living under the threat of deportation yet again. Instead of learning from its mistakes and preventing history from repeating itself, the government is poised to inflict harm on these families once again. Today we stand in support of the ACLU’s court filing to enforce the settlement agreement and urge the Court to ensure the government fulfills its obligation under the Ms. L settlement agreement to provide legal services to all unrepresented class members.”   

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first.