Three Bay Area families who were separated at the U.S.–Mexico border in 2018 filed suit this morning against the U.S. government seeking damages for the harm immigration officials inflicted on them by subjecting them to the Trump administration’s inhumane and unlawful policy of forcible family separation at the border.  

The plaintiff parents, Wilbur P.G., Erendira C.M., and Joshua G.G.*, and their children are the first affected families to file suit for damages in Northern California and are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and Keker, Van Nest & Peters, LLP.

In addition to seeking damages to compensate for the lifelong harm caused by the separation itself, the suit seeks to hold the federal government accountable for other abuses the families suffered while jailed in federal immigration detention facilities, including one parent who sustained lasting physical injuries after being denied medical attention and a child who was sexually abused in custody. 

On January 5^th 2022, the U.S. government filed a motion to dismiss, requesting a federal judge dismiss the case.