The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is seeking an emergency order from a judge to delay potential “mass deportations” of immigrant parents recently reunited with their children, Bloomberg reports. The organization hopes an extra week will allow families to discuss if they wish to take their children with them, or if they want to leave their children in the U.S. to seek asylum on their own.
The choice has become more difficult to make since Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made it practice to deny asylum to individuals fleeing domestic or gang violence, the ACLU’s federal court filing states according to Bloomberg.
Since the separation of families has resulted in the appointment of separate attorneys for parent and child, these decisions have become even more time consuming to make.
“Had the families not been separated in the first place, they would have been together to discuss their options, and their cases would have remained on the same track, without a separate child advocate assigned to assess the child’s case,” the ACLU said in the filing.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of San Diego is scheduled to get an update Monday on the government’s efforts to reunite the 2,500 children separated from their parents at the border. Sabraw harshly criticized the Department of Health and Human Services for their practices late last week.