NILC Denounces New Trump Rule to Hold Children and Families in Detention Indefinitely

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2019

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

NILC Denounces New Trump Rule to Hold Children and Families in Detention Indefinitely

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration today announced a regulation intended to circumvent longstanding protections for children detained by immigration officials. The new rule, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Friday, is designed to eviscerate the settlement agreement in (PDF)Flores v. Reno (PDF), which has for decades required minimum safety and custody standards for children in immigrant detention and required they be released within 20 days. In doing so,the government seeks to ignore basic standards of care and indefinitely detain children and families seeking safety and a better life in the United States.

Avideh Moussavian, legislative director for the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“Today’s announcement is yet another example of this administration’s callous disregard for the health and wellbeing of children. This unspeakably cruel rollback will result in more children in cages and more families locked up, despite enormously successful, humane, and cost-effective alternatives the government willfully refuses to implement. It will grant greater authority to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an agency that, under Trump’s watch, has allowed at least seven children to die in its custody in the past year alone.

“This new rule would allow DHS to hold people indefinitely, without oversight or other basic standards of care and protections required by the Flores agreement. We must fight this latest policy in Trump’s ongoing agenda of cruelty and his administration’s efforts to skirt the law and our democratic processes.”

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