Court contemplating Trump administration's plea to terminate safeguards for immigrant children
The Trump administration has requested U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles to end the Flores Settlement Agreement, a policy that sets nationally mandated protections for immigrant children in U.S. federal custody [1]. The Flores Agreement, in place since 1997, mandates safe and sanitary detention conditions, limits Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention of children to 72 hours, and requires children to be transferred to state-licensed facilities [1][4][5].
Advocates strongly oppose ending Flores, citing ongoing failures to meet its standards and documented abuses such as medical neglect, poor conditions, and family separations in detention facilities [1][2][4][5]. The Trump administration argues that requirements like holding children in state-licensed facilities are "impossible" for family detention centers where children are held with parents, and claim the agreement interferes with immigration policy by involving the judiciary [1][4][5].
Judge Gee has scheduled hearings and is reviewing these arguments. Immigrant advocates have filed lawsuits to preserve Flores protections and submitted detailed reports of ongoing abuses to emphasize the need for continued oversight [2][5]. The decision will have significant implications for the treatment of thousands of immigrant children in federal custody, potentially reducing judicial oversight and allowing longer detentions in facilities without Flores’s standards [1][2][4][5].
The prolonged detention of children and the lack of oversight have raised concerns among advocates. Leecia Welch, deputy legal director at Children's Rights, expressed her concern, stating, "It's shameful that the Trump administration is prolonging the detention of children without proper oversight" [6].
Logistical challenges resulting from the closure of temporary facilities set up under President Joe Biden to handle an influx of immigrants are also contributing to longer detention times. In March and April, CBP reported that it had 213 children in custody for more than 72 hours [3]. In May, CBP held 46 children over a week, including six children held for over two weeks and four children held for 19 days [7].
Advocates for immigrant children have submitted accounts of distressing conditions in Texas family detention centers, including fights over clean water, despondent toddlers, and a child with swollen feet denied a medical exam [8]. Judge Gee questioned why the Trump administration is holding children at the border for longer than the 72 hours laid out in the agreement, despite record low border arrests [9].
The Biden administration partially ended the Flores agreement last year, with Judge Dolly Gee ruling that special court supervision may end when children are transferred from CBP custody to the Department of Health and Human Services, except for certain types of facilities for children with more acute needs [10]. However, the Trump administration is looking to expand immigration detention space, including by building more centers like the one in Florida called "Alligator Alcatraz," where detainees' constitutional rights are being challenged in a lawsuit [11].
Despite billions provided in Trump's tax and spending bill for new immigration facilities, an attorney for the government acknowledged in court that the Flores agreement hampers the administration's efforts [5]. Judge Gee expressed skepticism about the government's request but did not immediately issue a ruling [2]. The Trump administration asserts that the bill gives the government authority to hold families in detention indefinitely, but this is currently void under the Flores settlement agreement [1][4].
The policy in question limits how long CBP can hold immigrant children and requires them to be kept in safe and sanitary conditions [1]. The Trump administration argues that it has made substantial changes since the agreement was formalized in 1997, creating standards and policies for the custody of immigrant children [4]. However, the current status of the Flores Settlement Agreement remains uncertain, with Judge Gee's decision pending.
- The ongoing debate surrounding policy-and-legislation involves the Trump administration's request to end the Flores Settlement Agreement, a key policy that sets nationally mandated protections for immigrant children in U.S. federal custody, and advocates' efforts to preserve it due to documented abuses and ongoing failures to meet its standards.
- The decision to end or uphold the Flores Settlement Agreement will have significant implications for politics and general-news, as it will impact the treatment of immigrant children, potentially reducing judicial oversight and allowing longer detentions in facilities without Flores’s standards, and could interfere with crime-and-justice by involving the judiciary in immigration policy matters.
