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This June 30, 2015 photo shows a sign at the entrance to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where a Honduran woman has been with her for 15 years. . six-month-old girl. (AP Photo / Eric Gay, File)
A federal judge issued Monday a temporary ban order barring the US government from deporting a Honduran woman detained with her 15-year-old daughter to a Texas facility for six months.
The order of US District Judge Randolph Moss arrived after an immigration judge denied the mother's request to reopen her immigration case. The girl still has a pending asylum case
The mother's lawyers applied for a temporary restraining order, stating that they feared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will expel the woman before being able to appeal the decision of the immigration judge after Christmas, leaving the A teenager alone in the hands of the United States.
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Shalyn Fluharty, Dilley Pro Bono Project Lead Lawyer and representing mother and daughter, said the teenager has tried to commit suicide at least once in detention and that she needed her mother.
"His psychological health status is in critical condition," Fluharty said.
Mother and daughter were initially released from detention. while their immigration affairs were continuing, but ICE stopped them both in June. The girl had her 15th birthday in detention last week
The Dilley center in South Texas, with a capacity of 2,400 people, is used by ICE to bring together mothers and daughters. Fluharty said she had never heard of anyone detained at Dilley for six months. An agreement known as the Flores settlement prohibits the prolonged detention of immigrant children.
Fluharty says that the teenager and her mother fear to be sexually assaulted or to be killed if they were returned to Honduras.
However, if the mother was deported and the girl kept in the United States, the teenager would probably be placed in a government facility for unaccompanied minors. This is what happened to hundreds of children earlier this year after their parents were evicted under a zero tolerance immigration policy that led to separations. large scale family
More than 14,000 minors were in government custody last week, many in crowded jails. facilities that pediatricians and mental health experts have criticized as inappropriate for children.
"This choice is fundamentally unfair and should never be imposed on a child," Fluharty said.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, who visited several facilities in Texas to draw attention to immigration detention, met with the Honduran mother detained during a visit to Dilley and drew attention to the situation. Be careful about the case of his daughter.
Merkley asked if the US government took advantage of the mother 's threat of expulsion to force the teenager to give up her own asylum case.
"It's a form of psychological pressure," Merkley said Monday. "We must keep in mind the best interests of the child, which means not separating her from her mother and not keeping her in jail."
Caravan organizer stunned by migrants after a hazardous trip [19659005] Fluharty said she was considering appealing the mother's complaint Wednesday after the government holidays at Christmas. It is unclear whether immigration courts will be open due to the partial closure of the government that began on Saturday.
A spokeswoman for ICE said that the agency could not comment on the case because of the closure. The Department of Justice did not return a message asking for comments on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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