SAN DIEGO _ Lee Gelernt traveled light. Leaving his New York home in July, the lawyer packed only a single change of clothes.
Since he didn't intend to be gone more than 48 hours, that seemed sufficient. His schedule: Thursday, fly to San Diego. Friday morning, represent his client at a hearing in the federal courthouse here. Friday night, catch the red-eye home.
That was his plan. Reality?
"I ended up staying for 12 days," Gelernt said. "Judge Sabraw, he just kept ordering hearing after hearing."
For Gelernt, that meant a daily routine of arranging another night's lodging, changing reservations for his flight home and shopping for fresh socks and briefs.
As deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project, Gelernt is accustomed to taking on controversial causes. He was the lead lawyer arguing against the Trump administration's travel ban, fighting Texas' anti-sanctuary city law, advocating for a Mexican teen shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent while the youth stood in Mexico and the agent in Arizona.
These cases all earned national news coverage, bringing Gelernt almost equal measures of professional acclaim and hate mail. Yet nothing had prepared him for the intense emotions stirred by the lawsuit now playing out in San Diego.
"Of all the cases I've ever done," he said, "this is the one that has resulted in the most unsolicited emails and calls. For awhile, it was the story in the country."
The case, Ms. L, et. al., v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, et. al., was filed to stop the Trump administration's practice of separating children and parents at the border.
This unpopular policy _ one poll found 88 percent of registered voters were opposed _ was halted by President Donald Trump's June 20 executive order. Yet the case of Ms. L continues in U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw's San Diego courtroom, as Gelernt and government lawyers wrestle with the question of how and where to reunite families.
This is an emotional issue, Gelernt said, but it shouldn't be a partisan one.
"At the end of the day, when you are dealing with children _ especially babies and toddlers _ it hits people at a visceral level," he said. "When it comes to children, there should be some common ground."
