Judge approves settlement barring U.S. border officials from reviving family separation policy for 8 years

A federal judge in California on Friday approved a court settlement that will prohibit federal U.S. border officials from reviving the Trump-era "zero tolerance" family separation policy for the next eight years.

Under the settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Biden administration, the federal government will be barred from separating migrant families solely for the purposes of prosecuting the parents for entering the U.S. illegally. There are limited exceptions to the eight-year ban, such as when a parent poses a risk to their children.

The settlement also provides social and legal benefits to migrant families affected by the Trump-era practice, which led to the separation of roughly 5,000 children from their parents. The agreement does not include monetary compensation, which was considered by the Biden administration until an outcry by Republican lawmakers in Congress.