States Sue Trump Administration Over Migrant Family Detention Plan
States Sue Trump Administration Over Migrant Family Detention Plan
(Bloomberg) -- A group of 19 states sued the Trump administration over its plan to detain migrant families indefinitely while their immigration cases are heard, alleging the rule would violate a 22-year-old settlement governing the treatment of children in custody.
The new plan would illegally circumvent the accord by allowing immigration authorities to keep migrant children locked up for months or years instead of the current 20-day limit that has usually led to minors being released to specialized facilities or family members, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday in a statement.
“This new Trump rule callously puts at risk the safety and well-being of children,” Becerra said. “It undermines a decades-old agreement reached in court by the federal government to prevent the unlawful detention of immigrant children.”
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics, more than 400,000 families have been apprehended on the southwestern border since October. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan has said the new rule will help address the strain on resources by discouraging people from trying to cross the border.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, in the same statement on Monday, accused President Donald Trump of “using helpless immigrant children as political pawns.”
Trump has frequently derided the 1997 Flores settlement, saying it hinders the government’s ability to deal with undocumented immigrants and encourages families to keep crossing the border illegally.
In the complaint, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the states allege that Trump’s final rule interferes with the their ability to ensure the health, safety and welfare of children by undermining state licensing requirements for facilities where children are held.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Twitter the Trump Administration’s new rule seeks to circumvent the Flores settlement.
Peter Schey, the lead lawyer representing immigrant children in the Flores case, said last week that he’ll challenge the new rule, and that he expects U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles to reject it.
The terms of the Flores settlement only allow for its termination if the final rule mirrors that agreement. Instead, Schey says, the new rule violates its “central pillars,” which require that migrant children be treated humanely and released as quickly as possible.
Gee will likely oversee the new lawsuit filed by the states. The judge last year blocked the Trump administration from an early attempt to modify the Flores settlement, calling that attempt a “cynical” work-around.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Peter Blumberg
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