[ad_1]
Faced with restrictions on the detention of federally-held migrant families, the Trump administration passed a settlement on Thursday that would allow them to keep these families in detention beyond the current 20-day limit.
The restriction is part of a court-ordered consent decree that arose out of a federal lawsuit concerning the harm caused by the detention of migrant children in prisons-like institutions. The government has repeatedly challenged the decree, saying that forcing the release of migrant families has encouraged parents to bring children through the southwestern border by the thousands in recent years.
Until now, the challenges have been in vain and most of the migrants who enter the country without travel documents are finally released and allowed to live freely, sometimes with GPS ankle bracelets, until they that they are settled by an immigration court.
If it succeeds in adopting the proposed rule, the administration will be able to keep migrant families indefinitely in specially adapted facilities to house children and adults together. These facilities are subject to federal standards for family detention centers and are assessed by independent reviewers.
The new regulations would effectively remove the federal government from its responsibilities under the so-called Flores Consent Decree, signed in 1997 and repeatedly confirmed by the Federal Court, more recently in July. Instead, the administration said it would put in place policies that "would meet the fundamental purpose" of the agreement, while giving the government more leeway to crack down on all borders.
"Today, legal loopholes significantly impede the department's ability to appropriately detain and quickly remove family units that have no legal basis for remaining in the country," said the Secretary of State. Homeland Security, Kristjen Nielsen. "This rule addresses one of the main factors in attracting illegal immigration and allows the federal government to enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress."
The settlement of Flores has been a major obstacle to the administration's attempt to punish migrants who cross the border illegally with their children. Administration officials have long believed that border control officers, mainly from Central America, bring children to the United States to prevent them from being held in detention pending resolution of their case. expulsion or asylum.
The proposed settlement is expected to go to court, where the Los Angeles federal district judge, who oversees the Flores decree, Dolly M. Gee, has rejected repeated attempts to change its provisions.
The regulation was originally adopted in 1997, after immigrant rights advocates managed to argue that detention by the federal authorities was physically and emotionally harmful to children's health. In 2016, the courts extended the regulation to children crossing the border alone but to migrant families.
The issue became controversial at the beginning of the year, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions set up a border zero tolerance policy that resulted in the imprisonment of thousands of migrant parents. Children can not be detained with them under the provisions of the Flores Decree, the policy has resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their detained parents.
The administration at that time again tried to gain a respite from the colony's provisions protecting children from prolonged detention, but failed. The proposed regulations represent an attempt to achieve, by administrative means, that the government could not win in court, said the defenders of immigrants.
"The Trump administration has been attacking the human rights of women and children since taking office. Efforts to weaken or eliminate basic child protection standards by labeling them as burdens or failures and eliminating their obligations to basic child care are just another example of the abdication of human rights by the administration, "said Michelle Brané and justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission. "The court has had to intervene several times to enforce these fundamental principles of child protection. It is clear that the administration is unable to take responsibility.
Instead of the current regulations, the administration stated in its announcement that it would create a policy guaranteeing that all migrant children in government custody "are treated with dignity, respect and particular concern for their particular vulnerability as minors. ".
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposed rules, followed by a 45-day period during which the lawyers who negotiated the original settlement can challenge the government's decision to go to court.
Source link
