A San Diego district court has ruled that the U.S. federal government must return three families from Honduras, saying their deportations in recent months were based on "lies, deception and coercion."
The order determined that the deported families should have been allowed to remain in the U.S. under a legal agreement that governed the separation of about 6.000 children from their parents at the border in 2018. Each mother was allowed to remain in the U.S. until 2027 on a humanitarian visa.
U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabrau in San Diego said that the Donald Trump administration must also pay for the costs of their return.
A woman with three children, including a six-year-old U.S. citizen, was deported to Honduras in July after being ordered to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at least 11 times over two months, which she said cost her her job.
Sabrau rejected the government's argument that the family left the U.S. voluntarily. The woman said ICE officers visited her at home and asked her to sign a document agreeing to leave, but she refused.
Two other families, identified only by initials, were deported under similar circumstances.
Under the "zero tolerance" policy, parents were separated from their children so they could be prosecuted when they crossed the border illegally. Judge Sabrau ordered an end to the separations in June 2018, days after Trump himself suspended them in the face of strong international pressure. The agreement prohibits the policy from being implemented until 2031.
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