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San Diego Judge Freezes Deportation of Separated Migrant Families

A man, identified only as Leon, spends time with his 11-year-old daughter Anaveli as they are cared for in an Annunciation House facility after they were reunited with each other on July 25, 2018 in El Paso, Texas. (Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

A judge overseeing the effort to reunify families at the border urged opposing attorneys to get moving on a solution that would allow all reunited children to pursue their own asylum claims rather than be immediately deported with their parents.

In a court hearing here Friday, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s repeated insistence on speed and efficiency underscored a desire to close out a chapter in U.S. immigration history, despite new legal wrinkles that continue to be raised in court — including yet another related lawsuit filed late in the day in Washington.

“This is an enormous undertaking involving a situation of the government’s own making, but we will never be able to come up with a process that is perfect or restores all rights as if this incident never happened,” Sabraw said. “All we can do is the best we can do under the present circumstances.

“I think the overarching considerations are family unity and an ordered process where rights are observed, and efficiently, so that this entire incident can be wrapped up in accordance with the law and this chapter closed,” he said.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.