A historic settlement agreement between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the federal government results in significant changes to U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practices known as "voluntary return" (in Spanish, "salida voluntaria") in Southern California. 

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Federal immigration officers throughout this region must now treat the people they detain fairly and must institute a number of procedural protections to safeguard their rights.

 

Significantly, the agreement also provides a way forcertain noncitizens who were swiftly expelled from Southern California to Mexico by "voluntary return" to apply to return to their families in the U.S. 

 

The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU because federal immigration officers were regularly pressuring, coercing, or misinforming noncitizens into signing documents waiving their right to fight their case before a judge. By doing this, they abused the voluntary return process and violated fundamental constitutional rights.