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The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties sued the federal government last week on behalf of the Guatemalan family, which fled their home after suffering extortion, death threats and rape. The family reported being stripped, assaulted and robbed in Mexico by masked men who appeared to be wearing government uniforms.
The family told an immigration judge in San Diego on Nov. 5 that they feared returning to Tijuana after a shootout outside their temporary shelter.
Sabraw, an appointee of President George W. Bush who is also presiding over a case to reunite thousands of children with their parents after being separated by authorities at the border, said the Guatemalan family was likely to suffer “irreparable harm” without an attorney.
Even if the ruling’s scope is widened, its impact may be blunted by the inability of many asylum-seekers to afford an attorney, which the government is not required to provide. Only 1.3% of asylum-seekers who were sent back to Mexico to wait by the end of June had attorneys, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
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