A federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration stops detaining migrant children in hotels before deporting them.
Obama’s appointee U.S. District Judge Dolly GA said the practice violated “basic humanitarian protections” and ordered the treatment of children who migrated into government custody under the 20-year rule. The order would oblige border agencies to stop the placement of children in hotels by September 15 and remove the children already there as soon as possible.
The GA also rejected arguments that hotels provided a safe place to detain children during the coronavirus epidemic.
“This court is sensitive to the existence created by COVID-19 and recognizes that temporary, emergency changes to the immigration system may be needed to increase public safety due to the epidemic. But there is no excuse for that [the Department of Homeland Security] She wrote that the Flores Amendment guarantees for minors in their custody, especially when there is no convincing evidence that hoteling is safer than licensed facilities.
GA added, “The court ensures that minors in DHS custody are not legally released into no-man’s land.”
The Trump administration has placed at least 577 untranslated children in hotels in Texas and Arizona since March, specifically on deportation flights.
In Friday’s ruling, the government ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to resume sending unaccompanied children to shelters where they could seek legal services, education and U.S. services. May already have the opportunity to put up with relatives, the ruling also gives access to immigration lawyers. It applies to children trying to be deported under the declaration of a state of emergency imposed during an epidemic, and to children with parents who have crossed the border without authorization.
The government cannot, in good faith, seriously argue that reprimanding its contractual obligation to place minors in licensed programs is necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, GA wrote.
Due to its decision minors travel between destinations so the hotel can be used for a short stay of one or two nights.
The Trump administration has argued that the court has no right to stop the use of hotels because how children can be detained shows that Flores is not a minor under a reform court settlement.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Hillary, who said she would appeal the order.
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