Migrants detained at the US-Mexico border
Border patrol agents count migrants who entered the US illegally the day before through the border wall before taking them to a port of entry in Jacumba, California, December 6, 2023 AFP

A federal judge in California approved a settlement that prohibits the separation of migrant families at the border, blocking a Trump-era policy that sought to deter immigration.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said Friday in a Court hearing in San Diego that the policy "represents one of the most shameful chapters in the history" of the country.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed in 2018 by the American Civil Liberties Union limits separations for the next eight years in most cases.

Judge Sabraw, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003, ruled that authorities must wage an effort to locate and reunify separated family members and assist them in obtaining asylum and support services.

Sabraw also praised legal teams on both sides (the ACLU's and the government's) for reaching an agreement to settle the lawsuit.

According tho the Times of San Diego, the ACLU estimates that more than 5,000 children were separated from their parents as a result of Trump's zero-tolerance policy.

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