M.M.M. ex rel. J.M.A. v. Sessions

347 F. Supp. 3d 526
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedAugust 16, 2018
DocketCase No.: 18cv1832 DMS (MDD)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 347 F. Supp. 3d 526 (M.M.M. ex rel. J.M.A. v. Sessions) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
M.M.M. ex rel. J.M.A. v. Sessions, 347 F. Supp. 3d 526 (S.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

Hon. Dana M. Sabraw, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs are migrant children who were forcibly separated from their parents shortly after crossing the United States-Mexico border. The children entered the United States with their parents at or between ports of entry and were fleeing violence from countries in Central America. They were seeking refuge in the United States and hoped to be granted asylum together as a family. However, under the Government's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, immigrant parents unlawfully entering the United States with their young children were subject to criminal prosecution and systematically separated from their children. In less than two months following implementation of the zero tolerance policy, approximately 2,600 families were separated, sparking national protests and condemnation.

The parents of these children sought relief in this Court over the government's family separation practices. On June 26, 2018, this Court certified a nationwide class of separated parents and issued a classwide preliminary injunction requiring the Government to reunify these parents with their children by July 26, 2018, on a showing that the parents' fundamental right to family integrity under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution had been violated. See Ms. L. v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement , ("Ms. L. "), Case No. 18cv0428 DMS (MDD), ECF No. 83. The Government marshaled its resources and reunified nearly 2,000 of these parents with their children by the deadline. These timely reunifications *529were possible because the parents and children were still in the United States. Approximately 400 other parents, however, were deported to countries in Central America without their children prior to the Court's reunification order. An intensive collaborative effort is presently underway to locate and reunite these parents with their children.

With approximately 2,000 families recently reunified in the United States, attention has turned to what lies ahead for these parents and their children. Plaintiffs in this putative class action are the children of the parents in the Ms. L. case. They contend that Defendants intend to immediately remove some of the families, thereby depriving Plaintiffs of certain asylum procedures guaranteed by statute and under the United States Constitution. (Compl. ¶ 4.) Over half of the parents completed their asylum proceedings and were issued final orders of removal after their claims were rejected. These parents cleared background checks and were deemed suitable for reunification, but did not otherwise meet the requirements for asylum or other relief from removal. Some of their children, who are Plaintiffs in the present action, were also in asylum proceedings that had been initiated for them by the Government before reunification occurred. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have "since reversed course, revoking [these proceedings] with the immigration court, presumably on the basis" that their parents waived their rights to seek asylum when they executed forms agreeing to be removed with their children. (Id. ¶¶ 49-50.) The Government does not dispute that it intends to remove parents with removal orders, and to remove their children (Plaintiffs) with them based on the parents' requests to be removed with their children. Plaintiffs dispute that their parents knowingly and voluntarily waived their rights, and thus request the Court to issue a temporary restraining order ("TRO") enjoining the Government from removing them and their parents pending a determination of these issues.1

Plaintiffs initially filed this action on July 27, 2018, before Judge Paul L. Friedman in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. (Case No. 1:18cv01759 PLF.) Judge Friedman observed that these cases, the present one and Ms. L. , "represent two sides of the same coin: whether and to what extent parents may waive their children's rights to pursue asylum and whether and to what extent children may independently assert their individual asylum rights." (ECF No. 25 at 11.) On August 3, 2018, Judge Friedman transferred the case to this Court given the interrelated issues and invited it to "untie this sailor's knot." (Id. at 8.) To do so requires an understanding of what is actually in dispute and what is not.

Importantly, both sides appear to agree on maintaining family unity-they just do not agree on how the family unit should be treated. Plaintiffs want to access asylum proceedings to which they are statutorily entitled and to be accompanied by their parents, while Defendants want to remove the families forthwith.2 Plaintiffs therefore *530seek a TRO prohibiting their removal and the removal of their parents until a determination is made about whether and to what extent they may assert their individual asylum rights. The principal dispute here is not whether the children have their own asylum rights (Defendants agree they do), but whether their parents waived those rights, and if they did not, what type of asylum procedures the children are entitled to-a potentially quick one under § 235 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"), or a more involved one under § 240 of the INA that was initially provided to some of the children after they were separated.3

As noted, this case is not about Defendants' authority-or desire-to deport the parents at issue without their children. It does not appear Defendants wish to do so. Rather, this case is about the timing of removal of the family unit and whether an orderly asylum process should be permitted. Re-separation of the family would be antithetical to the President's Executive Order which expressly restored family unity and abandoned the family separation policy,4 and it would greatly exacerbate the intensive efforts presently underway to reunite the nearly 400 parents who were previously removed from the country with their children who remain in the United States.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court concludes it has jurisdiction to issue the requested injunction and exercises its discretion to do so. Plaintiffs have met all the required factors for the relief they request, including likely success on the merits-which encompasses the waiver issue.

I.

DISCUSSION

Generally, injunctive relief is "an extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded upon a clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief."

*531Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. , 555 U.S. 7, 22, 129 S.Ct. 365, 172 L.Ed.2d 249 (2008).

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Bluebook (online)
347 F. Supp. 3d 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mmm-ex-rel-jma-v-sessions-casd-2018.