U.S. Must Face Suit Over Trump’s Separation of Migrant Kids

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government must face negligence and emotional distress claims by immigrants who say they were traumatized by former President Donald Trump's policy of separating families at the southern border.

An Arizona federal judge on Friday rejected the government's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2019 by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a group of migrants.

But U.S. District Judge John Hinderaker dismissed 15 high-ranking Trump administration officials from the case, ruling they can't be held personally liable for the government's conduct. 

President Joe Biden has called the separation by immigration authorities of thousands of children from their parents during a crackdown on illegal border crossings “a moral and national shame.”

Biden's Justice Department was unable to reach a settlement with the ACLU. But the department supported shielding the former Trump officials from personal liability. They include ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

Read More: Biden DOJ Says Trump Officials Shouldn't Pay for Migrant Trauma

The suit highlights challenges facing Biden as he has sought to unwind some of his predecessor's policies and embrace others while grappling with an immigration surge at the Mexico border. On Friday, the administration announced plans to lift Trump-era border controls that allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants and asylum seekers during the pandemic.

“The court was correct to deny the government's motion to dismiss the case against the United States and to allow discovery into the barbaric family separation practice,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said. “The ruling should signal to the Biden administration that it is time to do what's right for these families and stop fighting them in court.” 

Hinderaker concluded the ACLU's claims for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of “consortium” between children and parents are legally adequate to proceed.

“A jury could find the government's conduct extreme and outrageous and that such emotional distress resulted from the government's conduct,” he wrote.

The ACLU argued that individual officials should compensate families for trauma and suffering they allegedly caused. The advocacy group also seeks funding for mental health counseling.

The judge agreed with the Justice Department that allowing such claims against individual high-ranking federal officials isn't supported by legal precedent.

White House and Justice Department officials didn't respond to requests for comment.

The Biden administration had argued that “well-established legal doctrines” warrant dismissing the claims against the government as well.

The U.S. has “denounced the prior practice of separating children from their families at the United States-Mexico border, and committed itself to family reunification,” the Justice Department said in a February 2021 filing in federal court in Tucson. 

The case is A.I.I.L. v. Sessions, 19-cv-481, U.S. District Court, District of Arizona (Tucson).

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.