Immigrant rights advocates and attorneys are warning that federal immigration officials are trying to separate families in the midst of a pandemic, saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have told parents detained with their children at migrant family jails that they can either agree to have their children as young as one released without them—or remain jailed together indefinitely.
“Allegedly, ICE just began giving mothers a form that has them decide if they want their child released to a sponsor, or to remain in detention,” tweeted immigration reporter Jack Herrera, who was on a press call held by a number of organizations that advocate for detained families. “If the mothers do not agree to their child being separated, the form claims they have ‘waived’ their child's right to release.”
This may be happening in all three migrant families jails across the U.S., where approximately 160 kids are currently jailed with their parents in dangerous conditions. Families jailed at one facility in Pennsylvania said in a recent lawsuit that broken soap dispensers in rooms “have not been fixed despite their requests,” and that hand sanitizer is available only in areas that families aren’t allowed to access.
“Attorneys believe ICE asked detained immigrant parents to make this choice today because [Friday] the Trump [administration] must submit a report on the Flores agreement that says children with parents must be released within 20 days,” immigration reporter Adolfo Flores tweeted. So, ICE is trying to set up a situation where it can just claim in court that it totally gave these parents the option to have their children released from these dangerous facilities, but declined.
“This ‘binary choice’ policy looks like a way of accomplishing both family separation and indefinite family detention,” Herrera wrote. “It works by trying to portray parents as legally responsible for their children's continued detention if the parents don't agree to be separated from them.” This “binary choice” was also something pushed by the likes of Stephen Miller last year.
“So far, the attorneys say none of their clients signed the form, despite some of them reporting facing intimidation from ICE,” Herrera continued. “Some parents asked to talk to their lawyer; ICE told them they could talk to their lawyers later. None of the attorneys knew of this ahead of time.” He further reported that advocacy group RAICES said some of their clients were told by ICE that RAICES was in support of them signing away their kids, “so kids could get out of detention.”
The courts have already urged the Trump administration to safely release children and families jailed at these facilities amid the pandemic, which ICE has every power to do right now. Instead, its seeking to prolong their detention by any means possible—and in conditions that are becoming increasingly dangerous, as the number of ICE detainees who have tested positive for COVID-19 continues to climb.
“Family separation should not happen now or ever,” RAICES tweeted. “We shouldn’t be using COVID-19 as an excuse to return to family separation. We have seen detained families get extremely sick, and have already lost lives due to ICE’s refusal to follow court orders and release detained people … The solution to this pandemic is not to continue to create more harm by separating families and forcing them to through all this, but rather to release them so that they can shelter in place with loved ones while pursuing their applications for protection in the United States.”