Federal Judge: Complaint filed by immigrant families against ICE can move forward

A federal judge has ruled a complaint filed by migrant families being separated at the border against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can go forward.

In the court ruling, the U.S. District Court stated immigrants seeking shelter in the United States are escaping persecution in their home countries. The court said US “government actors responsible for the ‘care and custody’ of migrant children have, in fact, become their persecutors.”

The federal court order further states, “This is even more problematic given Plaintiffs’ allegations and assertions that there is a government practice, and possibly a forthcoming policy, to separate parents from their minor children in an effort to deter others from coming to the United States.”

Earlier this week, migrant mother Jocelyn and her son James were reunited after they were separated by ICE when they were detained in August 2017.

James was sent to a Chicago detention center, while his mother remained in an El Paso ICE detention center. The Brazilian family is seeking asylum in the US, claiming they can’t go back to Brazil because James’ father will harm them.

The complaint filed against ICE states cases like these are all too common.

In part the complaint reads: “These allegations sufficiently describe government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child, and is emblematic of the ‘exercise of power without any reasonable justification’ in the service of an otherwise legitimate governmental objective.”

The motion goes on to say: “Such conduct, if true, as it is assumed to be on the present motion, is brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency. At a minimum, the facts alleged are sufficient to show the government conduct at issue ‘shocks the conscience’ and violates plaintiffs’ constitutional right to family integrity.”

Lawyers representing ICE moved to have the motion dismissed alleging migrant’s parents who brought the children to our borders were unfit and placed the child in harm’s way.

The court denied the governments’ request to dismiss and ruled the case can go forward.