US judge bars immigration agents from separating parents and children at the border and orders them to reunite all families within 30 days

A United States District Court judge has ruled that U.S. immigration agents could no longer separate immigrant parents and children caught crossing the border from Mexico illegally. He also ruled that those families that had been split up in custody must be reunited.

Judge Dana Sabraw granted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed over the family separations on Tuesday.

More than 2,300 migrant children were separated from their parents after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration began a "zero tolerance" policy in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who crossed the border illegally, including those traveling with children.

"The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government's own making," Sabraw wrote. "They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution."

Sabraw ordered the government to reunite parents with their children younger than five within 14 days of the order, and children aged five and older within 30 days of the order.