Nearly 100 Mexicans Seek Return to United States Under Legal Settlement The Associated Press
go to original December 24, 2015

Sean Riordan (center), senior staff attorney for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, talks to reporters about the settlement of an immigration lawsuit. (Susan Murphy)

Nearly 100 Mexicans have sought to return to the U.S. by Wednesday’s deadline under the settlement of a class-action lawsuit that accused federal immigration officials in Southern California of failing to advise people of their rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Department of Homeland Security in 2013 over the use of a procedure to expel people from the country known as a voluntary return.

Under the procedure, people surrender rights to appear before an immigration judge and can’t legally return to the U.S. for up to 10 years. The lawsuit claimed authorities threatened people into accepting the terms.

The government didn’t acknowledge wrongdoing but agreed to changes in California that include a revised form that spells out the consequences and options of a voluntary return, new training and procedures and an information hotline for detainees seeking legal aid.

The settlement reflects the agency’s “commitment to ensuring foreign nationals fully understand the implications of returning voluntarily to Mexico,” the department said in a statement.

The government also agreed to let some Mexicans return to the U.S. to resume efforts to stay legally.

Read the rest at Salon

Related: Homeland Security Planning to Raid Hundreds of Central American Immigrant Families: Report (Reuters)

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