What is the Flores settlement?

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The 1997 Flores c. Reno A court agreement established a national policy on the detention and treatment of juveniles in detention.

According to CNN, Doris Meissner, director of the US Migration Policy Institute's Immigration Policy Program, would release children from immigration detention without unnecessary delay to their parents, to prevent them from becoming involved in immigration detention. other adult parents or authorized programs.
The colony also asked immigration officials to give detained minors a certain quality of life, including food, clean water, medical assistance in case of emergency, toilets, sinks, temperature control, monitoring and maximum separation of unrelated adults. a report from the Congressional Research Service.

According to the Congressional Research Service report, the former government immigration and naturalization service had been accused of mistreating immigrant children, which had resulted in a series of lawsuits. which had resulted in the Flores Convention.

The agreement is named Jenny Lisette Flores, a 15-year-old girl from El Salvador. She fled her country in 1985 and tried to enter the United States to join her aunt.

The INS arrested her at the border and she was placed in a juvenile detention center, where she was handcuffed and strip searched, according to the Marquette Law Review. The INS refused to grant custody to her aunt as she would not release the minors "from third parties," the law review article said.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action suit on behalf of the girl and other minors, eventually leading to the Flores agreement.

The initial settlement under the Clinton administration was designed to be temporary pending the publication of an official regulation. But for two decades, the administrations have followed the regulation and have not adopted such regulations.

For years, people have criticized the INS, saying that it has not fully implemented the rules enacted by the Flores agreement, according to the report of the Research Service of the Congress.

Five years after the signing of the agreement, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 divided responsibilities for the treatment and care of immigrant children. Nevertheless, people feared that regulations would not be respected.

In 2008, Congress passed the Victimization of Victims of Trafficking Act, William Wilberforce, which codified parts of the regulations into federal law, Meissner said.

In 2015, US District Judge Dolly Gee stated that Flores' requirements apply to both unaccompanied minors and children apprehended with their parents. This means that all minors should be released if possible, said Meissner.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to amend Flores' settlement agreement, arguing that it prevented the government from deterring undocumented immigrants from entering the country.

Last year, the Trump administration was criticized for its "zero tolerance policy" that led to the separation of thousands of families on the US border.

To comply with the Flores Convention and institute criminal proceedings against 100% of illegal border crossing points, the Trump administration separated the adults from the children with whom they had crossed the border – detaining them in federal prisons. waiting for their criminal proceedings and returning the children to Health and the facilities and shelters of Human Services.

After heightened criticism from the public and members of Congress, President Donald Trump issued an edict aimed at keeping the focus on the family.
In accordance with Trump's decree-law, Justice Department lawyers then asked Gee to modify the Flores rule to give the administration maximum flexibility in the management of family units, as officials want to detain parents not only until the end of the criminal proceedings, but also until the end. any asylum procedure likely to last for months.
She rejected the request of the administration, claiming that it was "totally unjustified".
In September, the Trump administration unveiled its draft federal regulation to cancel Flores' agreement.

Sam Fossum, Laura Jarrett and Clare Foran from CNN contributed to this report.

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