https://www.aclu.org/...
The ACLU wrote a strong piece on the Obama administration's family detention policies.
One third of the Senate has had enough of the Obama administration’s abusive imprisonment of vulnerable mothers and children fleeing violence in Central America.
The 33 senators - all democrats - wrote the letter while the DOJ is working on complying with a court order against the administration.
In May, a federal judge concluded in a tentative ruling that detaining children with their mothers in secure and unlicensed family detention facilities violates the 1997 Flores v. Reno settlement agreement, which governs the housing and care of migrant children. DOJ and the children’s counsel now face a June 19 deadline to report to the court on the results of their negotiations. If they cannot reach an agreement, the judge could issue a final ruling that would have sweeping implications on the administration’s family detention policies.
The Obama administration has been worse than the Bush administration on how it is treating these women and children.
Once an almost abandoned practice, family detention has surged since summer 2014 as DHS has ramped up its family detention capacity from fewer than 100 beds to an anticipated 3,700 beds by 2016. Most of the Central American families detained by DHS have come to the U.S. seeking refugee protection, having fled one of the most dangerous regions in the world where women and children are raped, abused, and killed with impunity. Eighty-eight percent of detained families have demonstrated to a DHS asylum officer that they have a credible fear of persecution if deported.
In an earlier diary, I noted how ACLU prison expert compared these facilities to internment camps.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
This isn't something that we should support and we should applaud these 33 senators and urge the administration to stop these detention policies. The ACLU is a wonderful organization that has helped support the rights of these women and children.
Since the summer of 2014, the ACLU has been working to halt the administration’s family detention practices. In February, a federal judge issued an order in RILR v. Johnson, an ACLU class action suit challenging DHS’s policy of detaining families seeking asylum, in order to deter future migration from Central America. The court blocked DHS from relying on general deterrence as a basis to detain families. While DHS is technically complying with the order, DOJ continues to fight the RILR case in court.
The 33 senators told the administration that
“We do not believe there is any system of mass family detention, that will work or is consistent with our moral values and historic commitment to provide safe and humane refuge to those fleeing persecution.”
The Senators are right.