In blow to Trump, US judge to oversee more family-separation cases

A San Diego federal judge has expanded hisauthority and will now oversee the cases of potentially thousands ofadditional children who were separated from their families at theborder during the Trump administration. Dana M. Sabraw ruled late Friday that his authority applies to anyfamilies that were separated at the border on or after July 1, 2017.Previously his order applied only to minors who were in federalcustody on June 26, 2018 - more than 2,800 children.Sabraw said his latest ruling was based on a report by the US Health and Human Services Department's internal watchdog. The reportconcluded that thousands more children may have been separated sincethe summer of 2017. The department's inspector general said theprecise number was unknown.Nearly all of the children who were part of the original case "havenow been reunified with their parents or otherwise discharged inaccordance with their parents' wishes," the judge wrote in his order. The new ruling would extend the case considerably.The Trump administration had opposed expanding the number of affectedimmigrants, saying it was unfair to the government. Attorneys hadargued that these families are in a different legal position and thatreviewing their cases would be time-consuming, cumbersome andexpensive.