Opinion | Yes, the U.S. government should settle with families

When I served as a U.S. attorney, I represented agencies sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the same statute applicable to many of these cases. My experience suggests that the facts will only get worse for the government as discovery unfolds. For instance, in one of the four cases a court declined to dismiss, a federal judge in Arizona noted: “Plaintiffs were held in hieleras — ‘small, freezing concrete cells crowded with twenty to thirty other migrant families.’ . . . CBP officials provided Plaintiffs with limited food and water and no room to lie down.” Cases of sexual abuse while children were in U.S. custody have been reported. The sensible — and right — thing to do in these cases is to negotiate settlements that provide appropriate compensation and support to the families.