The administration's move was blocked, but advocates went back to court earlier this year, arguing that the government had kept minors in custody far longer than the legally prescribed 20 days at restrictive, unlicensed and unsanitary facilities.On April 24, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee ordered ICE to “promptly and safely” release from detention facilities all children who do not pose a danger to the public and are not flight risks. Children at the facilities range from 1 year old to 17 years old, according to lawyers and advocates who provide legal assistance. In these extraordinary times, human suffering need not be compounded by locking up families or instilling fear in the hearts of migrant parents," read the letter, directed to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Matt Albence.ICE denied instituting a binary choice or separating any parents from their children "pursuant to 'binary choice.'"
The lawyers said the parents recounted that ICE agents did not provide other options and did not clarify whether or not parents would be deported without their children, some of whom were as young as 1 year old. "As of Friday afternoon, there are around 8,858 detainees in ICE custody who have been tested for coronavirus and there are 751 confirmed cases in custody, according to the agency's statistics.US Immigration and Customs Enforcement "is currently reviewing the most recent order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California yesterday evening" in which the judge mandated the federal government release migrant children by mid-July, according to an ICE spokesperson.Advocates and immigration lawyers shared anecdotes of detained families distraught over their encounters with ICE, describing meetings between parents and ICE officers regarding whether their children would remain in custody with the parent or be turned over to a sponsor in the US.Families detained in all three ICE detention facilities -- Berks in Pennsylvania, South Texas (Dilley) and Karnes County Family Residential Centers in Texas -- shared similar stories. The agency said officers “did not ask any parents to waive his or her Flores rights” during the process.Lawyers representing clients at the three family detention facilities originally raised concerns about ICE actions in a press call last Thursday. Migrant Detention Center to Open After Conditions Stir Anger Immigration detention centers on a part of the U.S.-Mexico border are being upgraded or … A court denied over the weekend another request by attorneys for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to delay release of roughly 100 migrant children from its detention … Last week's accounts by the lawyers prompted the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to announce it was investigating the issue. "The Administration must stop using this public health crisis as a means for implementing unlawful and inhumane immigration policies. All rights reserved.ICE: Migrant parents chose detention over children’s releaseWhen asked whether they wanted to be separated from their children, parents chose to remain in detention — with their kids
ICE detention centers, which hold immigrants in large open-floor cells with many detainees sharing the same toilet, sink and living area, are becoming a hotbed for COVID-19 infections. The ruling, which calls for children to be let go by July 17, applies to children who have resided at the three facilities for more than 20 days. The food at Clint is rationed on trays. The children must be released with their parents or to "available suitable sponsors or other available COVID-free non-congregate settings" with the consent of their parents or guardians, Judge Gee said. The immigration attorneys, who belong to pro bono legal service providers RAICES, ALDEA and Proyecto Dilley, said ICE had not notified them in advance that it would present parents with such a choice. Copyright 2020 CQ Roll Call. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement suggests around 180 detained migrant children remain in family detention centers beyond the legally permitted period because their parents did … The family detention centers “are ‘on fire’ and there is no more time for half measures,’’ she wrote. Nearly every child I spoke with said that they were hungry because they’re being given insufficient food. The filing was required by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California as part of the lawsuit, Flores v. Barr, a case challenging last year's move by the Trump administration to end a 1997 court settlement establishing standards of treatment for migrant children.
They sent a letter last week to the independent monitor for the Flores settlement agreement, noting that 163 children held at the three family detention facilities were detained for an average of 137 days; 58 were detained for more than 200 days.ICE did not respond to CQ Roll Call requests for comment on the matter. Migrants are gathered inside the fence of a makeshift detention center in El Paso, Texas on …