Separated immigrants win deportation reprieves

In this June 17, 2018 file photo provided by US Customs and Border Protection, people who’ve been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas. (Inset): In this June 23, 2018 file photo, an immigrant child looks out from a US Border Patrol bus leaving as protesters block the street outside the US Border Patrol Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas. (AP)

NEW YORK, July 18, (RTRS): Lawyers for immigrant families separated by the US government at the border with Mexico said a federal judge’s order barring rapid deportations until at least next Tuesday would give their clients breathing room as they decided their next steps.

The families had been separated amid a broader crackdown on illegal immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration, sparking an international outcry and a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Trump ordered that the practice be halted on June 20, and the government faces a courtimposed July 26 deadline to reunite families.

But with more than 2,500 children and their parents remaining separate, lawyers have been scrambling to stem deportations and give immigrant families a greater say in their futures.

In Monday’s order, US District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego agreed with the ACLU that parents facing imminent deportation deserved a week to decide whether to leave their children in the United States to pursue asylum separately.

The order gave lawyers more time to “figure out what reunification is going to mean for our clients,” said Beth Krause, a supervising lawyer at Legal Aid’s Immigrant Youth Project.