Donald Trump’s war on migrant kids has escalated. “The Trump administration is proposing a new regulation to replace the Flores Settlement Agreement,” reports DHS Watch, “which provides for basic standards of care for children and protects them from indefinite detention. Instead, the proposed regulation would allow for indefinite detention of children in unlicensed facilities.”
The administration’s deplorable plan to eviscerate these protections will certainly be challenged in court, as it should be. “Federal Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees the Flores settlement, recently rejected a separate attempt by the administration to detain children in jail-like settings for more than 20 days,” NPR reports. Yet, even with these protections, migrant children still faced abusive conditions under U.S. custody, and the administration’s proposal will only put them at greater risk.
“Even under the Flores Agreement,” said DHS Watch’s Ur Jaddou, “ there are a multitude of cases where children are harmed in detention.” Some of the reported abuse of migrant kids under U.S. custody has included forced drugging and molestation. “The last thing we need to do,” Jaddou continued, “is to expose children to even longer detention under weaker conditions as the Trump administration is proposing.”
The proposal has earned swift rebuke from advocates. “It is sickening,” said Omar Jadwat of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project, “to see the United States government looking for ways to jail more children for longer.” Leading Democrats have also sprung into action, with Congress member Anthony Brown of Maryland introducing legislation mandating vulnerable migrant populations, including children, be moved into alternatives to detention within 48 hours of being detained.
“Our immigration system doesn't have to operate this way,” Brown said. “There are effective alternatives that keep families together out of detention, and allow the legal process to move forward. Alternatives to detention have a 95% compliance rate, including ICE’s now shut-down Family Case Management Program which had 99% compliance rate.” Alternatives work, and it’s as plain as day and night.
Yet, despite these proven alternatives, the administration’s goal is to keep families detained indefinitely if they can’t deport them immediately.
“Medical and psychological experts all agree that detention, including family detention, is no place for children, let alone under inhumane conditions, and especially when there are viable and workable alternatives available,” Jaddou continued. “This proposed regulation is unacceptable and should be challenged.”