Judge Bans Separating Illegal Immigrant Families at US Southern Border for 8 Years

The judge said the separation of families ’represents one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country.’

Illegal immigrants wait to enter a shelter at the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 17, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

A federal judge on Friday ruled to ban the separation of families at the U.S. southwest border for the next eight years, except in certain cases, approving the settlement of a years-long Trump-era lawsuit.

The decision comes as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 2018, addressing the separation of families entering the country illegally as family units at the U.S.-Mexico border.