ACLU Comment on Trump Administration’s Response to Children Missing Under Family Separation Policy
NEW YORK — In court documents filed tonight, the Trump administration did not dispute a recent Office of Inspector General report that concluded there may have been thousands more children torn from parents under the administration’s family separation policy. The government also argued that it would take too long to figure out where those children currently are because it had no tracking system. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the Trump administration to halt the policy and reunite the families.
Lee Gelernt, lead attorney in this lawsuit and deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, had this reaction:
“The Trump administration’s response is a shocking concession that it can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents, and doesn’t even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them. The administration also doesn’t dispute that separations are ongoing in significant numbers. We will be back in court on February 21.”
The government response documents are here:
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/govt-response-filing-1
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/govt-response-declaration
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/govt-response-declaration-2
More information is at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice
Ms. L v. ICE
SETTLEMENT UPDATE: Dec.1, 2023 Here are links to the proposed family separation settlement and Notice of Rights in English and Spanish. The Notice of Rights explains the settlement and next steps to seek final approval of the settlement, including the opportunity to object: Settlement Document: https://wp.api.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2023.12.01-Exhibit-Amended-Settlement-1.pdf Notice (English): https://www.aclu.org/documents/ms-l-v-ice-notice-english Notice (Spanish): https://www.aclu.org/documents/ms-l-v-ice-notice-spanish
Source: American Civil Liberties Union
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