Judge Orders U.S. to Return Deported Migrant Families Separated Under Trump Administration

A federal judge recently commanded the United States government to bring back three migrant families who were impacted by the family separation policy during President Trump’s first administration and were subsequently deported under his second term. The deportations have been deemed “unlawful” by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

Judge Sabraw ruled that these deportations violated a court settlement aimed at providing specific benefits to those affected by the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. This controversial policy, which lasted only a few weeks, was discontinued in 2018 following legal opposition and extensive public criticism.

In 2023, the Biden administration agreed to a court settlement, pledging to deliver certain benefits to families affected by the previous policy and to restrict similar practices in the future. “Although the Settlement Agreement does not prohibit Defendants from enforcing the laws of the United States, the removals at issue here clearly violated the spirit of the Agreement, which was to effect and support reunification in the United States of families that had been separated pursuant to the family separation policy,” Judge Sabraw wrote.

He added that the decision to deport these families made the benefits promised by the Settlement Agreement meaningless. Furthermore, the deportation process was marred by deceit, coercion, and falsehoods. In response to the ruling, Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union representing thousands of separated migrant families, expressed approval of Sabraw’s decision.

The Trump administration not only cruelly separated these families during the first term but now is again deporting and re-separating these same families. The Court said enough is enough and ordered the Trump administration to bring back the families and to do so at government expense,” Gelernt stated.

The judge detailed the cases of three families he determined had been unjustly deported. In each instance, mothers were either directly or indirectly impacted by the family separation policy. For example, one case involved a mother who was forcibly separated from her five-year-old daughter in 2018. According to court records, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials exerted significant pressure on the mother in the previous year to self-deport.

She claimed that an ICE officer suggested that her children might be placed in “foster care or adoption” if she did not cooperate. The officials visited her house, and one officer reportedly offered to arrange her voluntary departure if she didn’t plan on leaving on her own. Overwhelmed and frustrated, she eventually felt forced to agree that she should “be sent back,” despite not genuinely wanting to leave, as she had temporary immigration parole allowing her to stay in the U.S.

Judge Sabraw noted that the woman and her three children did not voluntarily leave the United States and emphasized that they were deported unlawfully after he had ordered in June 2025 to halt deportations of families eligible under the court settlement. He found that the other two cases bore “strikingly similar” circumstances and ordered that the administration cover the costs for these families’ return to the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin stated that the administration disagrees with Sabraw’s ruling, which they claim interferes with presidential authority over deportation. “The facts and truth remain the same: these individuals were here illegally,” McLaughlin stated. “DHS will continue to enforce the law of the land and address this matter with the court.”