The Biden administration announced Monday a class-action court settlement that bars any future administration from separating immigrant families at the border through 2031 and allows thousands of families torn apart during the Trump administration to obtain new federally funded benefits.
The Justice Department has agreed to a settlement in the Ms. L. v. ICE case filed in 2018 that will give parents the ability to reapply for expedited asylum consideration, behavioral healthcare, and housing support, but no monetary reparations. The court must formally approve the settlement, which is a formality at this point.
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“The practice of separating families at the southwest border was shameful,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “This agreement will facilitate the reunification of separated families and provide them with critical services to aid in their recovery.”
More than 5,500 families were separated at the southern border under the Trump-era zero-tolerance policy, which required parents to be referred for prosecution. Because children cannot be jailed with a parent, the government did not allow the child and parent to be detained together, resulting in thousands of separations, some of whom have not been reunited.
The Trump administration rolled out the pilot program after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions pushed the policy in internal discussions in mid-2017, as the number of people encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border was beginning to rise. Sessions argued that an “illegal alien should not get a free pass just because he or she crosses the border illegally with a child.”
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in San Diego in 2018. An estimated 5,500 families were separated at the border in the three months of 2018 that the policy was in effect nationwide, which does not include the pilot phase in 2017.
In February 2021, President Joe Biden created an interagency task force with the sole purpose of reuniting families that the Trump administration was unable to reunify. More than 600 children had yet to be reunited by May 2021.
The only adults and related children who will continue to be separated at the border are those found to have certain criminal histories or an active warrant, concerns about the fitness of the parent, and in a medical emergency — sticking with existing protocols that exist to protect children.
“The settlement limits the circumstances under which parents or legal guardians may be separated from their children during an eight-year period following the effective date of the settlement,” a senior DOJ official said in a call with reporters Monday.
Additional family members will now have the opportunity to live with the adult family member in the United States, according to the settlement. Certain affected individuals in the country will also be eligible for support and services, including behavioral health services for three years. That includes counseling, support, and clinical treatment that are already being provided to the child or adult.
“This agreement helps family members reunify with their loved ones in the United States and receive services to help them address the trauma they have suffered,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “Our partnership is unified in condemning the cruelty of the past. The Department of Homeland Security has taken steps to ensure that the prior practice of separating families does not happen again, and we are continuing the work of reuniting children with their parents.”
Copayments required by insurance companies at the time of medical treatment will be covered by the federal government so long as the patient gets service at a federally qualified healthcare center over the next year.
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The government will provide temporary housing support for one year, including assistance finding housing, as well as some costs, such as a security deposit and first and last month’s rent. Immigration legal services, such as being connected with pro bono lawyers, will also be available for the first six months of the settlement. Asylum applications will also be expedited.
The senior Biden administration officials on the call said they were in the process of notifying the affected adults of what they were entitled to in the settlement and that not all of the adults had stepped forward to be reunited with their child.
