In a stunning decision without strong legal basis, a federal judge in California has ordered that U.S. taxpayers must pay the costs of “mental health services” for illegal aliens who were separated from their offspring and detained when caught entering the U.S. illegally.
In his ruling, left-wing federal Judge John Kornstadt, an Obama appointee, said American taxpayers are liable for mental health screenings, psychological counseling and other forms of treatment for thousands of illegals because they were “traumatized” by being jailed after committing a crime and separated from the children who accompanied them during the crime.
In the U.S., children are not allowed to live with criminal prison inmates.
Kornstadt said the federal government can be held responsible for the mental distress of the detained illegals. He accused the Trump administration of “deliberate indifference” when immigration authorities caught the illegals, causing “severe mental trauma to parents and their children.”
The decision stems from a lawsuit brought by illegal aliens that were separated from their children when they were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The illegals charged that they suffered “life altering” mental and emotional distress by being detained.
Government lawyers argued the U.S. is not responsible for the emotional effects of incarceration caused by illegal acts.