Latest news with #FloresAgreement
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge weighs Trump administration's request to end protections for immigrant children
McALLEN, Texas — A judge on Friday was considering a Trump administration request to end a decades-old policy on protections for immigrant children in federal custody that the government says is inhibiting its immigration crackdown. The administration asked U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles during a hearing to dissolve the policy, which limits how long Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions. Gee, who oversees what is known as the Flores agreement, expressed skepticism at the government's request but did not immediately issue a ruling. It was not clear how soon she will rule. The judge pressed government attorney Joshua McCroskey on why President Donald Trump's administration was holding children at the border for longer than the 72 hours laid out in the agreement when border arrests have reached record lows. She said it seems like conditions should be improving but they 'are deteriorating.' 'It seems counterintuitive that should happen unless it's willful,' said Gee, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama. McCroskey said some children are being held for longer because Trump as part of his crackdown ended the Biden administration's policy that allowed expedited releases of immigrants. McCroskey also pointed to logistical challenges that resulted from the closure of temporary facilities that were set up under President Joe Biden to handle an influx of immigrants. In May, CBP held 46 children over a week, including six children held for over two weeks and four children held 19 days, according to data revealed in a court filing. In March and April, CPB reported that it had 213 children in custody for more than 72 hours. That included 14 children, including toddlers, who were held for more than 20 days in April. Advocates for immigrant children asked the judge to keep protections and oversight in place and submitted accounts from immigrants in Texas family detention centers who described adults fighting children for clean water, despondent toddlers and a child with swollen feet who was denied a medical exam. The advocates also want the judge to expand independent monitoring. 'I have met children who have spent days in jail cells with barely more than ramen noodles to eat, lights on day and night, no sunlight or access to the outside world and the indignity of using the restroom in front of guards. On top of that trauma — then to be flown to family detention and locked up with no end in sight? It is truly shameful,' Leecia Welch, the deputy legal director at Children's Rights, said in an interview after the hearing. The Flores agreement, named for a teenage plaintiff, was the result of over a decade of litigation between attorneys representing the rights of immigrant children and the U.S. government over widespread allegations of mistreatment in the 1980s. It governs the conditions for all immigrant children in U.S. custody, including those traveling alone or with their parents. In its written motion, the Trump administration said the government has made substantial changes since the agreement was formalized in 1997, creating standards and policies governing the custody of immigrant children that conform to legislation and the agreement. The administration is looking to expand immigration detention space, including by building more centers like one in Florida dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' where a lawsuit alleges detainees' constitutional rights are being violated. In court, an attorney for the government, Tiberius Davis, acknowledged that the agreement hampers the administration's efforts, even though Trump's tax and spending bill provided billions to build new immigration facilities. Davis said the bill gives the government authority to hold families in detention indefinitely. 'But currently under the Flores settlement agreement, that's essentially void,' he said. The Biden administration successfully pushed to partially end the agreement last year. Gee ruled that special court supervision may end when the children are transferred from CPB custody to the Department of Health and Human Services. But she carved out exceptions for certain types of facilities for children with more acute needs.
CTV News
08-08-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Trump administration asks judge to end policy on protections for immigrant children in custody
McALLEN, Texas — A decades-old policy on protections for immigrant children in federal custody is inhibiting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, government attorneys told a judge Friday. The administration asked U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles during a hearing to dissolve the policy, which limits how long U.S. Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions. Gee did not immediately issue a decision and it's not clear how soon she might rule. Gee, who oversees what is known as the Flores agreement, expressed skepticism at the government's request. She said that while border apprehensions have dropped under U.S. President Donald Trump, conditions 'are deteriorating.' 'It seems counterintuitive that should happen unless it's willful,' said Gee, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama. Advocates for immigrant children asked the judge to keep the protections and oversight in place and submitted firsthand accounts from immigrants in family detention who described adults fighting children for clean water, despondent toddlers and a child with swollen feet who was denied a medical exam. In its written motion, the Trump administration said the government has made substantial changes since the agreement was formalized in 1997, creating standards and policies governing the custody of immigrant children that conform to legislation and the agreement. In court, an attorney for the government acknowledged that the agreement gets in the way of Trump's tax and spending bill that provided billions to build new immigration facilities, including family detention centers. The Flores agreement, named for a teenage plaintiff, was the result of over a decade of litigation between attorneys representing the rights of migrant children and the U.S. government over widespread allegations of mistreatment in the 1980s. It governs the conditions for all immigrant children in U.S. custody, including those traveling alone or with their parents. It also limits how long CBP can detain child immigrants to 72 hours. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services then takes custody of the children. The Biden administration successfully pushed to partially end the agreement last year. Gee ruled that special court supervision may end when HHS takes custody, but she carved out exceptions for certain types of facilities for children with more acute needs. Advocates for the children say the government is holding children beyond the time limits set out in the agreement. In March and April, CPB reported that it had 213 children in custody for more than 72 hours and that 14 children, including toddlers, were held for over 20 days in April. As part of their court filings, they included testimony from several families who were held in family detention centers in Texas. If the judge terminates the settlement, the detention centers would be closed to third-party inspections. The federal government is looking to expand its immigration detention space, including by building more centers like one in Florida dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' where a lawsuit alleges detainees' constitutional rights are being violated. Valerie Gonzalez, The Associated Press
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration seeks to end court settlement protecting migrant children in U.S. custody
The Trump administration on Thursday moved to terminate a longstanding court settlement that has obligated the U.S. government for nearly three decades to provide basic rights and services to migrant children in its custody. Since 1997, the settlement, known as the Flores Agreement, has required federal U.S. immigration officials to hold migrant children in facilities that are safe and sanitary; provide them access to lawyers; and seek their expeditious release from government custody. The legal agreement has also allowed lawyers to inspect detention facilities holding migrant minors, to determine whether conditions are adequate for children and that the government is complying with the provisions of the court settlement. While the settlement initially largely only applied to unaccompanied minors, in 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee extended the protections to migrant children detained with their parents, generally limiting the detention of such minors to 20 days. In a filing on Thursday, the Justice Department told Gee, who is based in Los Angeles, that the Flores settlement should be "completely" terminated. It argued the agreement has hamstrung the executive branch from effectively setting immigration policy and incentivized illegal border crossings by migrant families and unaccompanied minors. "After 40 years of litigation and 28 years of judicial control over a critical element of U.S. immigration policy by one district court located more than 100 miles from any international border, it is time for this case to end," the Justice Department said in its filing. The Justice Department also argued that, through laws and government regulations, the government has codified some of the provisions of the Flores agreement. Thursday's move was not entirely surprising. The first Trump administration also tried to terminate the Flores agreement, making similar legal and political arguments against the settlement. But its efforts were blocked by Gee, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2009, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Justice Department on Thursday also asked Gee to lift a ruling that blocked the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing a 2019 regulation that would have allowed the government to detain migrant families indefinitely, bypassing her 20-day limit. The Trump administration's bid will be challenged by the attorneys representing migrant children covered by the Flores agreement, which they say is critical to ensuring those minors are treated humanely while in U.S. care. "Eliminating the Settlement's core protections would hand the government unchecked power to imprison children indefinitely in secret facilities — places with no standards, no transparency, and no accountability," said Mishan Wroe, an attorney at the California-based National Center for Youth Law. "The consequences are not hypothetical: children will suffer," Wroe said.
