San Diego federal judge orders return of three deported families, citing unlawful ICE tactics in removals

Ruling targets deportations of families previously separated under “zero-tolerance” policy

A federal judge in San Diego has ordered the U.S. government to return three families who were deported in recent months, finding that immigration officers used “lies, deception, and coercion” during the removal process and that the deportations violated protections established under a court settlement tied to the 2018 family-separation policy.

The order was issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who has overseen litigation stemming from the federal government’s separation of thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border during the “zero-tolerance” enforcement period. Sabraw found that each of the three mothers had been granted humanitarian parole authorizing them to remain in the United States through 2027, and that their removals should not have occurred under the settlement’s framework.

Families’ accounts and the court’s finding

In one case, the court described a mother and her three children—one of them a U.S. citizen—who were deported to Honduras after repeated check-ins with immigration authorities. Court records describe officers attempting to obtain signatures on voluntary-departure paperwork and proceeding with removal after the mother refused. The mother stated that officers brought the family to a motel, removed an ankle monitor, detained them for several days, and then deported them.

Sabraw rejected the government’s position that the family left voluntarily. The judge found the facts supported the conclusion that the family was removed by the government despite having lawful, time-limited permission to remain in the country.

The court said the other two families’ removals followed “strikingly similar” patterns, concluding the deportations were unlawful and that, absent those removals, the families would still be in the United States with access to settlement-related benefits and resources.

What the government must do next

• Arrange for the families’ return to the United States.
• Pay the travel expenses associated with bringing them back.

The court characterized the deportations as relying on “lies, deception and coercion,” and determined the removals violated the settlement’s protections.

Broader legal context

The order lands amid ongoing disputes over how federal immigration enforcement interacts with humanitarian parole and court-approved settlements. The family-separation settlement approved in San Diego bars the government from reviving a policy of separating families solely to prosecute parents for unlawful entry, with limited exceptions, for a period that extends into 2031. It also establishes a set of legal and support-related benefits for families affected by past separations, including pathways to seek longer-term lawful status.

Government agencies did not immediately provide public responses to the ruling as it circulated Friday. The case is expected to shape how immigration authorities handle families covered by the settlement, including limits on pressuring or inducing departures when parole or other protections remain in effect.