At least 1,000 migrants ousted from the United States while some of their family members stayed inside the country as part of former President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" system have been described by lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit known as the Ms. L case.
“The ACLU is in settlement negotiations with the Biden administration to provide full relief to the thousands of separated families, not just reunification in the U.S. but permanent status, compensation, and social services,” Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney for the ACLU, told NBC News on Wednesday.
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“We are hopeful this will get done," he added. "And we will continue to pressure the Biden administration to move as quickly as possible.”
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Four families split up during Trump's illegal immigration policy implementation are set to be reunited within the week. The former president was said to have separated 5,500 family units throughout his term as parents were prosecuted by border authorities for illegal crossings while children were kept in Department of Health and Human Services custody.
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Many of those families were previously brought back together with several court orders, though some dismissed in 2017 were not yet identified at the time.
The Biden administration's program will only work if it "stays the course," Gelernt said.
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“The key will be that the Biden administration stays the course because there is a lot to do,” he added. “It is one thing to get a few families back, but a whole other thing to scale up the process, so it works smoothly for more than 1,000 families who remain separated, not to mention getting benefits for the thousands of others who need them.”
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The Department of Homeland Security, which under Biden has propelled a task force to reunify families, said it is determined to achieve its goal, though it did not present any information on monetary benefits and immigration status that may be afforded to the illegal immigrants.
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“The Task Force is actively working to develop a system for processing and reunifying over a thousand families and to set up a system to provide mental health support and stability to thousands more families who are here in the United States and still trying to heal from the trauma caused by their separation,” a DHS spokesperson told NBC News. “This is only the beginning, and the government cannot do this work alone. We are committed to working with the private sector and with the NGOs, attorneys, and advocates who have done tremendous work in support of these families.”
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