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Source: Reuters
Migrants attend a workshop for legal advice held by the Familia
Latina Unida and Centro Sin Fronteras at Lincoln United
Methodist Church in south Chicago
Dimensions: 5760 x 3840-
Size: 1.2MB-
Source: Reuters
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FILE PHOTO: Migrants attend a workshop for legal advice held by
the Familia Latina Unida and Centro Sin Fronteras in south
Chicago, Illinois, January 10, 2016, a part of campaigns being
held nationwide as a reaction to the United States government's
announcement that it would step up deportations of Central
Americans families that arrived since May 2014. REUTERS/Joshua
Lott/File Photo
The settlement follows a lawsuit that challenged a decision in
2017 by President Donald Trump's administration to shut down a
program that allowed children living in Central America to be
reunited with parents residing legally in the United States.
The Central American Minors program, which began in 2014,
allowed parents living legally in the United States to request
refugee status for their children residing in Guatemala, El
Salvador and Honduras.
Many of the parents are in the United States under the so-called
temporary protected status, which allows immigrants from
countries that have suffered natural disasters, civil conflicts
or other problems to stay in the United States.
Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco
ordered the government to resume processing children who had
been conditionally approved for the program when it was
terminated by the Trump administration.
The settlement, which must be approved by a judge, requires the
government to finish processing children who were in the final
stages of their applications when the program was ended, the
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), which
represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
It said the government anticipates most applicants will be
approved and allowed to travel to the United States.
"We are so pleased that after many years apart our clients will
finally have the opportunity to reunite with each other in
safety," IRAP attorney Linda Evarts said in the statement.
"These families belong together here in the United States, and
we are hopeful this settlement will allow for their swift
reunification," she said.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, which
signed the settlement, did not immediately respond to a request
for comment, nor did the U.S. Justice Department.
(Reporting by Eric Beech and David Alexander in Washington;
Editing by Sandra Maler)
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