The Able USDC Judge Sabraw Orders Some New Enforcement -- Of Arriving Families' Rights -- At Border, Just Now...

A mixed bag, here -- to be sure. . . but there will likely be appeals on both sides, in any event.

Here is the entire 26 page order, and a bit:

. . . .Given the right at issue here, the harm that parents and children suffer when they are separated, and the undisputed speed, accuracy and availability of DNA testing, the Court finds Defendants must conduct DNA testing before separating an adult from a child based on parentage concerns. Such testing, in service to the fundamental right at issue, is clearly warranted. . . .

Plaintiffs also argue that by using any criminal history, Defendants can take a parent out of the class and absolve themselves “of any obligation to immediately reunify the family when the parent is released from an adult detention center [by an immigration judge] (which happens frequently when the government cannot show that the parent is a flight risk or danger [to others]”).” (See Suppl. Br. at 1-2.) Plaintiffs argue that parents who are excluded from FRCs but later released from immigration detention are not being reunified with their children during the pendency of their immigration proceedings. . . .

The Court agrees with Plaintiffs that if a parent who is separated from his or her child due to FRC standards is subsequently released from custody, then Defendants should reunify that parent with his or her child in the same way they are reunifying families with resolved communicable diseases or long-term illnesses. (See ECF No. 489 (Prevost Memo, Tear Sheet) (informing parents that “following the conclusion of any criminal custody or hospitalization” the parent will be transferred to ICE custody and DHS and ICE “will take steps to determine whether you may be reunified with your child or children.”)) This clarification does not interfere with Defendants’ discretion in matters of parole or detention. CBP’s initial determination to detain the parent remains undisturbed until another Executive Branch officer (an immigration judge) decides later based on additional information to release the parent on bond or other appropriate conditions pending their removal proceedings. Should Defendants fail to reunify parents under these circumstances, parents can also now avail themselves of the “Tear Sheet” process, by which they can make application for and be reunified with their children. . . .

Geaux tigers. . .and, onward.

नमस्ते