(Bloomberg) -- A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump's administration to allow 11 migrants to return to the U.S. after they were improperly deported without their children during the government's “chaotic and unprecedented” family separation policy.
Border agents wrongfully denied the parents a chance to seek asylum and must give them another opportunity, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled in San Diego late Wednesday. Seven other parents who sought to return to the U.S. failed to prove they were wrongfully removed, the judge said.
One father who will be permitted to return was improperly told by border agents that he'd be detained for at least two years and that his son would be put up for adoption if he didn't waive his right to asylum and leave the U.S., according to the ruling. When he signed a document waiving his right to asylum, he was illegally deported without his son anyway, the judge said.
U.S. border officials deported 471 parents without their children before the policy was blocked by a judge last year, according to the ruling. Most of the parents chose to be reunited with their children in their home countries or waived reunification so their kids could pursue separate asylum claims.
The press office for U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth
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