The Trump administration may seek to detain migrant families longer than previously allowed



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The Trump administration intends to detain, rather than release, migrant families in custody, according to a new trial that suggests that these detentions could last longer than the 20 days contemplated by a judicial settlement

. Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a legal opinion to a California federal judge who oversaw long-standing disputes over the detention of separated families. The filing comes as the Department of Justice seeks to navigate two different court edicts – an injunction issued this week by a federal judge in San Diego that demanded that the government begin to reunite the approximately 2,000 migrant children still separated from their families, and an older court settlement at the federal court in Los Angeles that requires immigration in the weeks following the announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions of a zero tolerance policy towards-and- For immigrants illegally crossing the US border, about 2,500 migrant children have been separated from their families. Parents. About 500 of these children have since been reunited with their parents.

On Tuesday, Judge Dana M. Sabraw in San Diego issued a preliminary injunction ordering the government to quickly reunite migrant children with their parents, saying that children separated from their families must be returned within 30 days, and allowing only 14 days for the return of children under 5 years old.

As part of a legal settlement in the Los Angeles case, the Department of Homeland Security has followed a The new case does not explicitly say that the Trump administration has the same. the intention to keep families in detention beyond the 20-day limit, but saying that officials plan to keep families in custody. detaining them "for the duration" of the immigration proceedings, which in many cases can last for months, this implies that families will spend this time in detention.

The department argued that even though the previous regulation required him to release minors "without unnecessary delay," the new court order, "which requires the minor to be kept with the parent, makes the delay necessary in these circumstances ".

He demanded the end of what critics call "catch and release" – the practice of releasing migrants from immigration detention, many of whom do not appear later for their hearings. The administration said that 40,579 eviction orders had been issued because foreigners were not showing up for the previous year 's budget hearing.

Civil rights groups and immigrant rights advocates. What is less clear, is how the judge in the Los Angeles case, Dolly M. Gee, will see the government's new approach and whether it will order that it change.

The filing could entice the judge to approve the family's long-term detentions. Alternatively, the judge can order the administration to release the families with watchbands – although this could provide a political opening for President Trump and other officials to blame the government. judicial power to force them to enter the country illegally. who served as Assistant Deputy Attorney General for the Office of Immigration litigation in the Obama administration, said that officials have always had the ability to hold children with families after 20 days – if the parents have consented. But according to President Barack Obama, officials said it would be too cruel to present mothers with Sophie's choice to turn over their children to refugee resettlement authorities or keep them in detention

. the Trump administration would at least be willing to do it.

"What they want to do is choose the mother, separate or not, but make the choice so expensive that there is no other choice to stay in family custody, "Fresco said.

Matt Zapotosky and Nick Miroff contributed to this report.

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