Migrant Families File Lawsuit Against US Govt Over Trump's Zero-Tolerance Policy

The Trump administration's Zero-Tolerance Policy led to the separation of migrant parents and children at borders.

Then President Donald Trump signs an executive order to keep families together at the border, but says that the ‘zero-tolerance’ prosecution policy will continue, during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

(Photo: AP)

Under the Zero-Tolerance Policy implemented by former United States President Donald Trump's administration in 2018, thousands of families were torn apart.

According to the policy, every migrant, including asylum seekers, who tries to cross the US border at any place other than an official port of entry, was to be detained and criminally prosecuted.

Now, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) have filed a lawsuit against the US government in the federal district court in Arizona on behalf of migrant parents.

The non-profit organisation helps provide free/low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children. Along with RAICES, the global law firm Hogan Lovells and Arizona co-counsel Lewis Roca are seeking damages for the harm that parents and their children endured by being forcibly separated at the border.

According to the lawsuit, four plaintiff families continue to suffer from the trauma of being separated and detained. However, they have received no apology, acknowledgement, or explanation from the United States government.

Tami Goodlette, the Director of Litigation at RAICES, said that the Zero Tolerance policy was "an intentional act of abuse, and it is the current administration's responsibility to rectify the ongoing harms caused to these families."

"We are taking the Biden administration to court to make sure these families get the compensation they deserve for the trauma inflicted upon them by the federal government."

Tami Goodlette, Director of Litigation at RAICES

As per the complaint, the Trump administration's federal government was the reason that each of the four plaintiff families was separated. They were given no notice, information, or plan for reunification.

(With inputs from the American Bazaar.)