More than 60 individuals protected under the landmark Ms. L v. ICE class action settlement have been detained, and at least 16 have been deported during the second term of President Donald Trump, according to data compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union. The renewed enforcement actions target families who survived the 2018 “zero tolerance” border separation policy, shattering legal guarantees established by a 2023 federal settlement agreement that aimed to provide stability and temporary legal status to affected parents and children.
Legal advocates and civil rights organizations warn that the current immigration crackdown is dragging vulnerable families back into active trauma. The situation gained national attention following the high-profile detention and deportation of Mirsy Maricela Alva López, a 39-year-old Guatemalan mother who was removed to Guatemala without her two children, Briseidy and Ederson.
“We never went far enough to repair the original sin of the separations at the border,” said Kelly Albinak Kribs, an attorney at the nonprofit Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. “And now we’re perpetrating that same harm all over again.”
The Collapse of Settlement Protections for Separated Families
The legal framework protecting these families stems from Ms. L v. ICE, a class action lawsuit filed in San Diego federal court by the ACLU on behalf of an asylum-seeking Congolese mother and her six-year-old daughter who were forcibly separated by border agents. In June 2018, US District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ordered an end to systematic family separations unless a parent was deemed unfit or dangerous, ruling that the practice ruptured the sacred bond between parent and child.
After years of litigation, the Biden administration and the ACLU finalized a comprehensive settlement in late 2023.
Despite these safeguards, immigration authorities under the second Trump administration have increasingly subjected class members to intensive supervision, strict reporting requirements, and sudden arrests.
Judicial Intervention and the Fight to Return Deported Families
Following the deportation of Alva López and other class members, the ACLU returned to federal court to challenge the detentions as baseless and demanded that the administration return affected families at government expense.
Judge Sabraw ordered the federal government to finance the return of families wrongfully removed, including Alva López and her children.
Uncertain Futures and Ongoing Legal Battles
Even for families who have returned to the United States, stability remains fragile.
“It is outrageous to me that the government essentially admitted their mistake when they agreed to return Mirsy,” Kribs said, “and yet she has to go through the bureaucratic process of re-applying for an immigration status she’s entitled to and that they erroneously stripped her of.”
As legal teams continue pressing for compliance with federal court orders, affected parents and children navigate a relentless cycle of anxiety, waiting for upcoming judicial hearings and administrative reviews to determine whether their hard-won protections will hold.
Readers with insights or legal updates regarding ongoing immigration proceedings are encouraged to share their thoughts and join the discussion in the comments below.
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