Judge approves settlement allowing return of some Mexicans expelled from California

By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A court ruling clears the way for hundreds and perhaps thousands of immigrants improperly expelled to Mexico from Southern California to be allowed to return to seek legal U.S. residency, an official with a civil rights group said on Saturday. Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union contended in a lawsuit on behalf of roughly 10 plaintiffs expelled to Mexico that the immigrants were tricked or coerced into signing their own expulsion orders. U.S. officials and the ACLU reached a settlement last August to prevent immigration authorities from pressuring undocumented immigrants in Southern California to sign off on their expulsions to Mexico. U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt in Los Angeles on Thursday approved the ACLU's request to broaden the class of plaintiffs to include immigrants improperly expelled between June 2009 and August 2014, said Anna Castro, a spokeswoman for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties.