San Diego-Based Federal Judge Temporarily Pauses Deportations of Reunited Families


A federal judge on Monday ordered the US government to temporarily pause deportations of reunited families to allow attorneys time to debate whether he should more permanently extend that order.

San Diego-based US District Court Judge Dana Sabraw addressed the issue at the top of a status hearing in a continuing family separations case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Sabraw ordered the pause to allow for a full written argument on the ACLU's request to pause deportations of parents for a week after reunification.

In the meantime, the government also confirmed for the first time how many parents and children in government custody have been matched up, at least preliminarily.

According to the numbers, the parents of 71 children separated from their families at the border have yet to be identified and located.







Pausing deportations


The ACLU's filing was made earlier Monday morning, and Sabraw gave the Department of Justice a week to respond.

But in the meantime, he ordered a "stay" of deportations until that issue can be litigated.

Lawyers for the ACLU said their motion was due to "the persistent and increasing rumors -- which Defendants have refused to deny -- that mass deportations may be carried out imminently and immediately upon reunification." They argue this issue is "directly related to effectuating the Court's ruling that parents make an informed, non-coerced decision if they are going to leave their children behind."

"A one-week stay is a reasonable and appropriate remedy to ensure that the unimaginable trauma these families have suffered does not turn even worse because parents made an uninformed decision about the fate of their child," the ACLU's lawyers added.


Sabraw said that simply could not be the case.

"The reunifications should continue in accordance with Commander White's plan and the idea that it would slow down or stop for other logistical reason due to a stay of trying to deport families immediately upon reunification, that's not an option," Sabraw said. "That just shouldn't be happening. There's no reason that I can think of where that can result in unhinging the reunifications underway. ... If space is an issue, the government will have to make space."
