A court settlement years in the making should put an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) reprehensible—and illegal—practice of swooping in to detain unaccompanied minors who turn 18 while in U.S. custody.
Under federal law, officials are supposed to consider the least restrictive setting available for unaccompanied youth who are about to turn 18 while in Health and Human Services (HHS) custody. This can include release. But under the previous administration, ICE began sending a “record number” of 18-year-olds straight to adult detention facilities, some, cruelly, on their birthdays. This practice continued throughout the pandemic.
Now, after more than four years of litigation stemming from a class-action lawsuit challenging these sort of arrests, legal advocates say a federal court has approved a settlement in a previous decision that had ruled against ICE. “In an agreement approved by the district court, ICE gave up their appeal fight.”
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“In a 2020 ruling following a four-week bench trial, the district court found that the U.S. government routinely and systematically failed to adhere to a statute that requires them to consider placement in ‘the least restrictive setting available,’ and to provide alternatives to detention as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act,” American Immigration Council and National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) said. “A year later, the district court issued a permanent injunction to remedy ICE’s systemic violations of the law.”
Isaac, originally from Guatemala, told The New York Times in 2020 that he had expected to be released from HHS custody to a shelter when he turned 18, where he could get treatment for high blood pressure and severe anxiety. But on his birthday, ICE came in and sent him to an adult facility. ICE came for “Sofia” on her 18th birthday, too. She spent more than 80 days at the former prison camp for migrant children in Florida after fleeing Honduras.
“Roberto” was also jailed at Homestead, and had an uncle here who could sponsor him. But the federal government took months to process his information, eating up precious time until his 18th birthday. On his birthday, he was also sent to an adult facility. Not only are young people particularly vulnerable in adult facilities, Isaac was sent to a site previously been criticized for detainee mistreatment.
“In Houston, ICE agents placed 97 percent of teenagers transferred from the resettlement office’s custody into detention centers as opposed to group homes, according to an analysis of government data from October 2018 to May 2019 submitted during trial,” the Times reported at the time.
“Data obtained over the course of the lawsuit showed that within months of the federal court certifying the national class action in August 2018, the rate at which ICE transferred 18-year-olds to adult detention centers dropped by half—from 83% at its highest point to about 35%,” NIJC said in July 2020. “As part of this settlement, the U.S. government is paying $4.8 million for costs incurred by plaintiffs as ICE fought to continue jailing immigrant youth on their 18th birthdays,” NIJC said this week.
”Since lawsuit filing in 2018, number of unaccompanied youth sent to adult immigration detention centers (jails w/ ICE contracts) on their 18th birthdays has been reduced by 99%,” the organization continued. “With our partners we’ll continue to monitor ICE’s compliance through 2026.”
“We are very happy to see this years-long litigation come to a conclusion in such a way where its impact already is evident across the system we set out to change,” said Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at NIJC. "This settlement secures valuable protections for unaccompanied immigrant youth, who should not have to worry about being sent to an immigration jail on their 18th birthdays. It also provides for critical monitoring and accountability over ICE, an agency that too often has been allowed to operate with impunity as it violates U.S. laws and basic human rights. We’ll continue to work with our partners to ensure that ICE abides by the court’s order.”
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Sofia was jailed at a prison camp for migrant kids. Then, on her 18th birthday, ICE detained her