Ahead of second Trump administration, relief in class action lawsuit impacting noncitizens with final orders of removal who are married to U.S. citizens
A federal court has approved a settlement following the ACLU of Massachusetts’ years-long lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of New England-based immigrants and their U.S. citizen spouses. The lawsuit challenged the first Trump administration’s pattern of separating married couples and families pursuing lawful immigration status for a spouse at risk of deportation.
The settlement was preliminarily approved in October 2024. During today’s hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf gave final approval to the settlement.
During the first Trump administration, the ACLU filed 434 legal actions against the federal government, including to end family separation at the southern border. Filed in 2018, this related Massachusetts case alleged that the government arrested, detained, and deported people pursuing a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) process that allows certain noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens to seek lawful immigration status while remaining in the United States with their families.
The lawsuit revealed that, even though particular federal regulations were designed to protect families from unnecessary separation during the process of seeking lawful status for a spouse, ICE and USCIS worked together to schedule and facilitate arrests of immigrants at USCIS offices where families appeared as part of the process of seeking lawful status.
The ACLU of Massachusetts and law firm WilmerHale filed the lawsuit on behalf of five immigrants and their spouses, including Lilian Calderon, a mother of two who was brought to the U.S. when she was 3 years old. She and her U.S. citizen husband began the process to seek her lawful status in 2016. In January 2018, they appeared together at a Rhode Island USCIS office for an interview designed to confirm their marriage — the first step in the process of seeking Lilian’s lawful permanent residency. Immediately after the interview, Lilian was abruptly detained by ICE and taken to a detention facility in Boston, where she was held for nearly a month while ICE planned to deport her away from her husband and two young children. She was released from detention following ACLU legal action. In the years since this lawsuit was filed, she continued to pursue her legal status and eventually became a lawful permanent resident. Last year, she became a U.S. citizen.
In May 2019, a federal judge granted class certification, extending the impact of the lawsuit to hundreds of New England citizens and their noncitizen spouses.
For the next two years, the settlement now approved by the court will provide class members who are not deemed to pose a public safety threat protection from ICE enforcement and a process to reopen and dismiss their removal cases. Attorneys and potential class members who seek more information about the settlement should visit aclum.org/calderonsettlement.
Quotes from plaintiffs and litigation team:
“Seven years ago, I was suddenly taken from my husband and kids when I went into a government office to try to seek legal status,” said named plaintiff Lilian Calderon. “I was taken to a detention center, and some of the women there shared with me how they too were separated from their families. That night, I worried about my 1-year-old son’s ear infection, and whether my family was going to be OK. Now my husband and I can tell our kids with certainty that our family won’t be separated. I hope that this country does not shut the door on families like mine, and I am thankful to have been part of a case that helps keep families together.”
“In 2018, I was detained for three months after my husband and I began petitioning for my legal status and were called in for an interview,” said named plaintiff Lucimar de Souza. “I will never forget the desperate pleas of my son when he begged to stay with me in detention, or how he broke down with emotion on the day I was finally released. I am proud to be part of a case that has stopped this from happening to other families.”
“This settlement is a critical step forward for so many families in New England, providing a pathway for families and married couples to stay together and removing certain obstacles in their path towards lawful status,” said Adriana Lafaille, managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “While this settlement alone can't fix the harm experienced by class members, it does provide hope that these harms will not be repeated.”
“As we face a second Trump administration and his threats to detain and deport people en masse, this case is a reminder of the human toll of such cruel and unlawful policies: By targeting immigrant community members who live in our neighborhoods, attend our schools, and run local small businesses, the government tears apart families, communities, and the fabric of our nation,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “Together with our courageous clients and cooperating attorneys, the ACLU is prepared to push back against inhumane policies once again.”
“When we filed this lawsuit nearly seven years ago, the first Trump administration was engaged in a widespread practice of separating families with no legitimate immigration enforcement purpose,” said Kevin Prussia, partner at WilmerHale. “Now, this settlement brings some relief for hundreds of New England families and a reminder of our constitutional values and rights.”
For more information about Calderon Jimenez v. Mayorkas, go to: https://www.aclum.org/en/cases/calderon-v-nielsen
