Timeline of events related to migrant children's detention centers in the United States

Last updated

This is a timeline of events related to migrant children's detention centers in the United States.

Contents

A selected timeline of events

YearDateEventimage
1984September 6Harold W. Ezell, then director of Western Region of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) under President Ronald Reagan, "implemented a policy under which a detained immigrant child could only be released to a parent or legal guardian". [1] As a result, immigrant children were detained in poor conditions for "lengthy or indefinite" periods of time. [2] :5
1985In 1985, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) apprehended then-15-year-old Jenny Lisette Flores, from El Salvador after she attempted to cross the Mexico–United States border, [Flores 1] :1648 and detained her in an adult prison where she was strip searched.
1985July 11The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law filed a class action lawsuit Flores v. Meese, No. 85-4544 (C.D. Cal. filed July 11, 1985) in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of Flores and three other minor immigrant children, against AG Edwin Meese, who served as United States Attorney General from February 25, 1985 to July 5, 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. [Flores 1] :1648 [Flores 2] [Notes 1] The 1985 class action lawsuit was brought against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) through lawyers Carlos Holguin and [Peter A. Schey on behalf of Flores. [Flores 1] :1648 [Flores 2] According to NBC News , shortly after Flores v. Meese was filed, Flores was released through a court injunction. [3]
1987In 1987, the parties agreed to a consent decree regarding detention conditions but the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs regarding the release conditions. [4] :35
1988March 7In Flores v. Meese, a District court judge in California placed "limits on INS treatment of alien minors in custody." [Flores 3] [Notes 2]
1993In the Supreme Court case, Attorney General Janet Reno et al. v. Jenny Lisette Flores in which the Court held that the Immigration and Naturalization Service's regulations, regarding the release of alien unaccompanied minors, did not violate the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. [5] [Flores 4]
1997January 28The Flores agreement, which originated in Flores v. Meese, No. 85-4544 (C.D. Cal. filed July 11, 1985) "set standards for the detention of minors by prioritizing them for release to the custody of their families and requiring those in federal custody to be placed in the least restrictive environment possible", according to a June 19, 2018 NBC News article. [6] [Flores 1] :1648 [Flores 2] Immigration officials agreed to provide detained minors with "food and drinking water as appropriate, medical assistance if minor is in need of emergency services, toilets and sinks, adequate temperature control and ventilation, adequate supervision to protect minors from others, contact with family members who were arrested with the minor, and separation from unrelated adults whenever possible." [7] According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) and the settlement agreement in Flores v. Meese which was reached during the administration of Bill Clinton, set national legal standards for law governing the rights of children in the immigration process. [Flores 5] [Notes 3]

[Flores 6] [8]

[Flores 7] [Notes 4] :1,2
2002 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) is a term defined by the 2002 Homeland Security Act, an act that established the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that was introduced following the September 11 attacks during the Presidency of George W. Bush. [9] United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), defines UAC as illegal immigrants who are under 18-years old and have no legal guardians in the United States. [10] [11] Part of this major re-organization within the federal government was the abolition by Congress of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). INS responsibilities were transferred to entities within DHS.
2003The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began to operate the Unaccompanied Alien Children Program. From 2003 to 2011 the ORR housed fewer than 8,000 children annually. [12] [13]
2005DecemberUnder the George W. Bush Administration, then Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff approved Operation Streamline which began the trend of a "zero tolerance" approach, through which anyone crossing the border illegally would be prosecuted criminally for unlawful entry and re-entry. However, under President Bush "exceptions were generally made for adults who were traveling with minor children" according to The New York Times . [14] The program was first rolled out starting in December 2005 at the Eagle Pass area of the Del Rio sector. [15]
2006AugustAccording to then Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Chertoff's February 28, 2007 testimony before the Senate, by August 2006, As part of the DHS' Secure Border Initiative, the policy of "catch and return" had been replaced by "catch and release" [16] [17] [18] [Notes 5] along the southern and northern borders. [19] Previously, when DHS "apprehended illegal aliens", they were released "on their own recognizance". He said that they would often not present themselves for their immigration hearings. According to Chertoff, the DHS lacked bed space to hold "non-Mexican illegal aliens". This changed in August 2006, with the "new DHS policy of "catch and return" when "all removable aliens caught at the border" were detained then returned home. This was meant to be a "strong disincentive to cross illegally". Chertoff said that the older policy of "catch-and-release" for many years, allowed many illegal immigrants to "stay in the United States unhindered". He said that Mexican border-crossers would be subject to expedited removal. People who support immigrant rights said that this new policy would result in people attempting to "cross at more remote and dangerous areas." [20]
2007The Global Detention Project reported that there were 363 detention sites in use in the United States during the period 2007-2009 [21] [22]
2008The Baptist Children's Center (BCFS San Antonio) in San Antonio, Texas operated by the Baptist Child and Family Services now known as BCFS Health and Human Services or BCFS was opened.
2008December 23Then-President George W. Bush signed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which provided "substantial new protections" to UAC by "prohibiting them from being quickly sent back to their country of origin." [23]
2010September 10
2011Beginning in October 2011, the U.S. Government recorded a dramatic rise – commonly referred to in the United States as "the surge" – in the number of unaccompanied and separated children arriving to the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The total number of apprehensions of unaccompanied and separated children from these countries by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) jumped from 4,059 in FY 2011 to 10,443 in FY 2012 and then more than doubled again, to 21,537, in FY 2013.
2012June 15Then-President Barack Obama announced an American immigration policy through an executive branch memorandum entitled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that allowed some people who were brought to the United States as children to receive period of deferred action from deportation. DACA recipients also became eligible for an employment authorization document. [24] [25]
2014During the 2014 American immigration crisis, most children came from the Northern Triangle of Central AmericaHonduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, [26] crossing the Rio Grande. Once in the United States, they turned themselves in to the United States Border Patrol. [23] According to a July 9, 2014 article in The New York Times , then-President Obama said the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 was "partly responsible for tying [the] hands of the [Obama administration] in dealing with the "influx of children". Since October 2013, the number of minors who had been caught at the Southwest border, had risen to approximately 52,000, according to a July 2014 Times article. [23] Republicans said that Obama's DACA had caused the influx of unaccompanied migrant children. [23]
Central America's Northern Triangle.svg
2014SummerIn response to the 2014 immigration crisis while Obama was President, when a "surge" of "Central Americans" arrived at the U.S.–Mexico border, "ICE adopted a blanket policy to detain all female-headed families, including children, in secure, unlicensed facilities for the duration of the proceedings that determine whether they are entitled to remain in the United States." [Flores 8]
2014December Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C. Johnson said during a press conference held at the opening of the largest immigrant detention center in the United States—the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, "Frankly, we want to send a message that our border is not open to illegal migration; and if you come here, you should not expect to simply be released." [27] The facility is operated by CoreCivic formerly known as CCA - Corrections Corporation of America and the director is Janice Killian. [Notes 6] [28]
2015May 13In response to a "Washington, D.C. federal district court's injunction against invoking general deterrence in custody determinations", ICE announced that it would "discontinue invoking general deterrence as a factor in custody determinations in all cases involving families." [Flores 8]
2015June 25 Los Angeles Times reported that CoreCivic's South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas held 1,735 people and about 1,000 of the detainees were children. [29]
2015July 24On July 24, 2015, in the C.D. Cal. in "Flores v. Johnson", United States District Judge Dolly M. Gee, ruled that detained children and their parents who were caught crossing the border illegally could not be held more than 20 days, saying that detention centers in Texas, such as the GEO Group's privately run Karnes County Residential Center (KCRC) in Karnes City, Texas, and the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, in Taylor, Texas, had failed to meet Flores standards. Gee expanded Flores to cover accompanied and unaccompanied children. [Flores 9] Judge Gee ruled that Flores calls on the government to release children "without unnecessary delay", which she held was within 20 days. [30] [Flores 8] This was a major change to Flores. Dee was an Obama-appointed federal district court judge. [31] [32] Judge Dee ruled that the defendants' "blanket no-release policy with respect to minors accompanied by their mothers is a material breach of the Agreement." [Flores 8]
2016According to a May 31, 2019 US Customs and Border Patrol report, in FY2017, the USBP Southwest Border 41,435 unaccompanied minors were apprehended by the US Border Patrol compared to 50,036 in 2018, representing an increase of 21 percent. [33] This chart shows the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended by the US Border Patrol spanning the years from 2014 to 2019 based on US Customs and Border Patrol statistics. [33]
Stacked-bar chart showing the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended by the US Border Patrol, broken down by country of origin, 2014 - May 31, 2019. Chart of Unaccompanied Minors Apprehended by USBP, 2014-2019.png
Stacked-bar chart showing the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended by the US Border Patrol, broken down by country of origin, 2014 - May 31, 2019.
2017March 4According to Reuters , in a March 4 CNN interview, then HSS secretary, John F. Kelly, said on that he was "considering a proposal" in which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would change the U.S. policy regarding the separate of children from their parents. He said he would "do almost anything to deter the people from Central America from getting on this very, very dangerous network that brings them up through Mexico into the United States", including this DHS policy shift which would put "children in the care of the Health and Human Services Department" while their parents were in custody. [34] [14]
2017JuneThe DHS introduced a new policy, "Human Smuggling Disruption Initiative" which targeted potential sponsors for the unaccompanied children in detention centers. [35] :4
2017July 5District Judge Gee issued an enforcement order against the Trump administration. On July 5, 2017, in Flores v. Sessions, Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt, joined by Judges A. Wallace Tashima, and Marsha Berzon, affirmed, finding that Congress had not abrogated the Agreement through subsequent legislation. [36] In his opinion of Flores v. Sessions (No. 17-55208 D.C. No. 2:85-cv-04544- DMG-AGR) before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Stephen Reinhardt ruled that "Nothing in the text, structure, or purpose of the HSA or TVPRA [Notes 7] renders continued compliance with Paragraph 24A, as it applies to unaccompanied minors, "impermissible." [Notes 8] "Nor does anything in the two statutes turn the Flores Settlement [Notes 9] or any part of it into an "instrument of wrong". [Notes 10] "Not a single word in either statute indicates that Congress intended to supersede, terminate, or take away any right enjoyed by unaccompanied minors at the time of the acts’ passage. Thus, we hold that the statutes have not terminated the Flores Settlement's bond-hearing requirement for unaccompanied minors. We therefore affirm the decision of the district court granting plaintiffs' motion to enforce Paragraph 24A of the Flores Settlement in its entirety." [Flores 10] :35 Judge Reinhardt also said that "ORR treats some children whose parents are present in the United States as "unaccompanied alien children" if the parents are not "available to provide care and physical custody." [Notes 11] [Flores 10] :16–17 [37] :181
2017In 2017 Southwest Key "served 24,877 children". [29]
2017Flores v. Sessions was filed on Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Dolly M. Gee, the presiding District Judge Dolly M. Gee, argued and submitted the case on April 18, 2017 in San Francisco, California. Flores v. Sessions was filed July 5, 2017 The Ninth Court Circuit Judges heard the case, Stephen Reinhardt, A. Wallace Tashima, and Marsha Berzon. The opinion was read by Judge Stephen Reinhardt The plaintiff's attorneys in Jenny Lisette Flores, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jefferson B. Sessions III, Attorney General. The Appellee's included US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Thomas E. Price (Tom Price), M.D. Secretary of Health and Human Services, [Notes 12] [38] John F. Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Defendants-Appellants.
2017September Katie Waldman, a DHS spokeswoman was cited in a June 21, 2018 NBC News article as saying that, from October 16 to September 2017 there were 46 cases in which alleged human traffickers had used minors to avoid detention when they entered the United States illegally. [39] [Notes 13]
2017OctoberBased on the HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement data that was reviewed by The New York Times, over 700 children were taken "from adults claiming to be their parents" from October 2017 to April 2018. This includes over a hundred children under four years old. [40]
2018April 6On April 6, 2018 then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed all federal prosecutors along the Southwest Border to work with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately implement the Zero Tolerance Policy, which required federal prosecutors treat "all improper entry offenses" along the Southwest Border "be referred for criminal prosecution" to the "extent practicable". [41] :2 [42] [43] On the same day, President Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to report on their efforts to end the practice of what has been referred to as "catch and release". [44] According to The New York Times , "In April, after the border numbers reached their zenith, [President Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller] was instrumental in Mr. Trump’s decision to ratchet up the zero tolerance policy." [14] [45] [Notes 14]
2018April 6A memorandum issued by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions entitled "Zero Tolerance for Offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a).", a new DHS policy which was implemented through an information-sharing agreement between the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Under the new policy, ORR shared a "broad range of information on unaccompanied children with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the fingerprints of potential sponsors such as parents and legal guardians as well as members of potential sponsors’ households, for immigration enforcement purposes". With this new policy, potential sponsors hesitated to help provide placement for the children in detention centers which "drastically delayed the placement of unaccompanied children." [35] :4 [46]
2018MayAccording to USA Today , The DOJ and "border authorities began to prose[cute] every adult who crossed the southwest border illegally in May". The article said that this caused "more than 2,300 children to be separated from their parents." [43]
2018May 22 National Public Radio (NPR) cited an ACLU and University of Chicago Law School's International Human Rights Clinic 2018 report which alleged that from 2009 to 2014, the "physical, verbal, sexual and psychological abuse" of detained immigrant children by DHP and CBP officials, was "pervasive". [47] According to a May 22 ACLU press release, the final report, which was co-authored by the University of Chicago Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, featured "numerous cases of shocking violence and abuse against migrant children". The report was based on "over 30,000 pages of documents dated between 2009 and 2014" that were obtained by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. [48] Customs and Border Protection denied the allegations. [47]
2018June 5In a June 5 interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, said, "If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them. We've got to get this message out. You're not given immunity." [49] [50] [14] [Notes 15]
2018JuneThe United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had "contracts with 100 shelters in 17 states" that housed 11,313 children. [29] Southwest Key, which is "among the largest child migrant shelter providers" in the United States, runs 27 of the 100 shelters in Texas, Arizona, and California. [29]
2018JuneThen-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the United States would "block access to asylum for most victims of domestic violence and gang violence." [51]
2018June 8According to a June 8, 2018 The Cut, the "zero tolerance" immigration policy had resulted in the separation of thousands of families from their children as they sought asylum in the United States. The article said that horrific conditions in which migrant children are detained began to emerge in May and June. Photos of children cages made of chain-link fencing inside of the 77,000 square-foot warehouse at the Ursula Central Processing Center were published. Ursula, which is the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center for undocumented immigrants was a retrofitted to hold over 1,000 people. [52]
CBP Ursula Central Processing Center, McAllen, Texas Ursula (detention center) 2.jpg
CBP Ursula Central Processing Center, McAllen, Texas
2018June 12A photo, taken by Getty Images' photojournalist John Moore [53] on June 12 in McAllen, Texas, of a Honduran two-year-old child—the daughter of an asylum seeker who had crossed the US-Mexican border illegally—"became the face of family separation" even though the toddler was never separated from her mother. [54] [55] [56]
2018June 14In a June 14, 2018 article in the Los Angeles Times , the government-contracted youth shelter Estrella del Norte (shelter) in Tucson, Arizona, which is operated by Austin-based nonprofit Southwest Key, was described as understaffed and 'prison-like'. In mid-June 2014, th 300-bed shelter for children housed 287 children. The article cited a shelter 'insider' as saying that the migrant youth shelter was "unequipped for Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy." Cindy Casares, a spokeswoman for Southwest Key said that the shelter has been in operation for 20 years and their staff ration "meets state licensing requirements". [29] In a Los Angeles Times telephone interview with Antar Davidson, who worked at Estrella del Norte for a few months, Davidson described conditions in Estrella del Norte as "prison-like" and recounts being told to forbid siblings without their parent from hugging one another. [29]
2018June 15According to KPBS Public Media, over a period of 6 weeks in April and May government officials "separated 2,000 children from parents facing criminal prosecution for unlawfully crossing the border." [51]
2018June 18House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and over a dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Juan Vargas (D-Chula Vista), visited Casa San Diego in El Cajon, California which is operated by Southwest Key under contract with the HHS's ORR [51] There were 65 boys ranging in age from 6 to 17 housed there. According to KPBS Public Media, the U.S. government had separated about 10 percent of the boys from their parents. [51]
2018June 18Jennifer Harbury, a Rio Grande Valley, Texas-based civil rights lawyer, received an audio recording from a client who had recorded ten Central American children, between the ages of 4 and 10, crying shortly after being separated from their parents in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in mid-June. Harbury shared it with ProPublica and it was published on June 18. [57]
2018June 18At a White House briefing, DHS Secretary Nielsen said there had been an increase of over 300 percent in cases where "minors have been used and trafficked by unrelated adults in an effort to avoid detention." [39] According to a June 21 NBC News article federal officials have said that recently, child traffickers fraudulently posed as parents of unrelated children to cross into the United States illegally. [39] Olivia Nuzzi from New York magazine played the ProPublica audio tape of children crying during this briefing. [58]
2018June 19In spite of a law that mandates access to lawmakers in Florida, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and other lawmakers, were denied entry to the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida a facility that houses 1,000 migrant children. [59] [60] The Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children holds 1,179 children ranging in age from 13 to 17 and is the "largest facility housing immigrant children in South Florida". [61] Cape Canaveral-based Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. has a c. $31 million contract with the federal government to operate Homestead and Leslie Wood is program director. [61]
2018June 20Trump signed an executive order, which was drafted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, which directed DHS to "keep families together after they are detained crossing the border illegally" at the U.S.–Mexico border. [62] USA Today said in signing the EO, Trump's was abandoning his "earlier claim that the crisis was caused by an iron-clad law and not a policy that he could reverse." [43] DHS reported that "2,342 children were separated at the border from 2,206 adults from May 5 to June 9". [43] According to a June 27, 2018 Reuters article, Trump's EO "contained "loopholes" and did little to fix the problem"—2,000 children "remained separated". [63]
2018June 20By December 17, 2018, 14,314 children the federal government had "placed most of the 14,300 migrant toddlers, children and teens in its care in detention centers and residential facilities packed with hundreds, or thousands, of children", according to the Associated Press. The Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program "supervised over 150 programs in 17 states in 2017 and 2018." [64] The three of the largest facilities—the Tornillo tent city, the Homestead (Florida) Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, and Casa Padre in Brownsville, Texas—housed over 5,400 children. [64] The five largest contractors for the program—Southwest Key (headquartered in Austin, Texas); BCFS Health and Human Services (San Antonio, Texas); Comprehensive Health Services Inc. (Cape Canaveral, Florida); Cayuga Centers (Auburn, New York); and Heartland Alliance (Chicago, Illinois)—"oversaw more than 11,600 children in the UAC program". [64]
2018June 23After her June 23, 2018 tour, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz reported that at least children—from newborns to 5-year-olds—who were taken away from their parents were housed in two Miami-Dade County, Florida shelters—His House Children's Home in Miami Gardens, Florida and Catholic Charities' Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children's Village, previously known as Boys Town, in Cutler Bay, Miami. [65] in Miami, Florida under the jurisdiction of the HHS ORR. [65] His House Children's Home [60] His House is a 232-bed facility. [61]
2019June 24During the June 24 episode of Washington, D.C.-based CBS News]' Face the Nation , Leslie Sanchez said that many Republicans feel that family separation [and the resulting child detention] is an "unnecessary evil." He said that this policy however was "America's pain point". Sanchez said that it was the audio [of the children crying] that was more painful than the images. He said that he had talked to a "lot of Republicans"—even bundlers, people that put big amounts of money together"—who knew they that "cries of the children [...] being separated"..."was the moment where America knew this was too far." Sanchez said that was "when the president retreated". [66]
2018June 26Washington, D.C. and seventeen states "sued the Trump administration in Seattle federal court over the family separations, calling them "cruel" and motivated by "animus." [67] [63]
2018June 27 [68]
2018June 26In the case, "Ms. L et al v ICE" [69] brought before the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw issued an injunction on that "blocked the Trump administration from separating immigrant parents and children at the U.S.–Mexico border". The injunction required the "government to reunite children under the age of five with their parents within 14 days, and let children talk with their parents within 10 days" that "those who were separated be reunited within 30 days". [63] Judge Sabraw said that, "The facts set forth before the court portray reactive governance responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the government’s own making. They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution."
2018June 30The New York Times reported that there were hundreds of demonstrations in the United States and on the Mexican border protesting against migrant family separations. [70]
2018July 9In her July 9, 2018 ruling, Judge Dee of the Federal District of California, "countered" most of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) arguments. She held that there was "no basis" to modify the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA) that "requires children to be released to [federally] licensed care programs within 20 days." [71] The New York Times described Dee's ruling as a "significant legal setback" to President Trump's "immigration agenda" [71] which includes family separation.
2018September 28The Office of Inspector General (OIG) with John V. Kelly as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Inspector General [Notes 16] [72] [Notes 17] submitted a 17-page report on September 28, 2019 report which was based on "unannounced inspections" of facilities where migrant children were detained and concluded that facilities run by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for unaccompanied alien children. The report concluded that the facilities "appeared to be operating in compliance with the 2015 National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search. With the exception of inconsistent cleanliness of the hold rooms, we observed that unaccompanied alien children had access to toilets and sinks, drinking water, beverages (including milk and juice drinks), as well as snacks and food. Unaccompanied alien children had access to hygiene items and clean bedding at all facilities we visited. We did not encounter issues with temperatures or ventilation, access to emergency medical care, inadequate supervision, or access to telephones." The report offered no recommendations for changes. [41]
2019JanuaryA tent city in Tornillo, Texas detained about 2,800 children was closed "after a federal watchdog revealed "serious safety and health" concerns". [73] It was operated by the Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) under contract from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
2019April Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Covington and Burling law firm court filed a lawsuit on behalf of two families against the federal government for separating families at the U.S.–Mexico border according to a PBS News report. [74]
2019June 20In June 2019, three Ninth Circuit heard the case, 17-56297 Jenny Flores v. William Barr, in which Sarah Fabian, the senior attorney in the Department of Justice's Office of Immigration Litigation requested the Court to overturn the July 2017 district court's order "requiring the government to provide detainees with hygiene items such as soap and toothbrushes in order to comply with the “safe and sanitary conditions” requirement set forth in the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement". During the June 20, 2019 proceedings, Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher said it was "inconceivable" that the United States government would consider it "safe and sanitary" to detain child migrants in conditions where it was "cold all night long, lights on all night long, sleeping on concrete and you've got an aluminium foil blanket?" [75] [76] Fabian said that the Flores agreement mandating "safe and sanitary" conditions for detained migrant children was "vague" and it was not compulsory for the government to provide toothbrushes, soap or adequate bedding to them. [77] Educational programs for children in this type of facility were canceled by the Department of Health and Human Services in June 2019. [78] [79]
2019June 23Based on an inspection, The New Yorker reported that infants, child and teenage migrants were being detained in the Clint Border Patrol Station without adequate food, bedding, soap, toothpaste and clean clothing. [80] The BBC also carried the story. [75]
2019July 1A congressional delegation reported that migrant women detained at the El Paso facility were "told to drink from toilet". [Notes 18] [81] [82] [83] [84] In July 2019, Democratic Representatives who had a scheduled tour of migrant detention centers alleged that the migrants had suffered various forms of mistreatment. [83]
2019July BBC reported that one of the reasons migrant children are being detained longer than 72 hours in detention centers is that government agencies "struggle to process the vast number of people being held at the border." [85]
2019July 3According to The New York Times , President Trump criticized the lawmakers for their negative comments about the U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facilities and said that they were "living far better" there than in their home countries. [86]
2019July 6According to The New York Times , by July 2019, the Clint Border Patrol Station which is located four miles north of the US–Mexico Border in Clint, Texasborder partrol station and migrant detention facility, and similar facilities, had become "the public face of the chaos on America’s southern border" as reports of the conditions there became public. [87]
2019July 18 Amnesty International published their report entitled "No Home For Children: The Homestead 'Temporary Emergency' Facility" describing Homestead as an "industrial-scale facility for processing mass numbers of children" which focused on "containment" not the "best interests of the unaccompanied children housed there." [35] :31
2019July 22According to a July 22, 2019 article in Fortune , a Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet said that approximately 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children were detained in 168 facilities in 23 states. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) runs the shelters and contracts non-profit organizations to operate them. [73]
2019July 23A HHS report, announced the imminent closure of the temporary emergency facility near Carrizo Springs, Texas. The facility, which is operated by BCFS Health and Human Services, held about 200 minors ranging in age from 13 to 17—originally from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. [88] Amnesty International USA's (AIUSA) Director Margaret Huang testified before the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies/HHS about the conditions she witnessed at the facility during AIUSA's July 20 visit there. Huang also reported on conditions at the Homestead and Tornillo detention facilities. [89]
2019August 1The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Covington and Burling law firm court documents reveal that long-term trauma has been inflicted on potentially thousands of migrant children as families were separated U.S.–Mexico border from 2017 to 2018, according to a PBS News report. The law firms say that the family separations violate the constitution and "norms of basic human decency." This comes months after a similar suit brought by two families, also through the SPLC and Covington and Burling, in April [74]
2019August 15The first reports of the collaborative investigation undertaken by PBS Frontline and the Associated Press into the treatment of migrant minors in state-run foster homes funded by the federal ORR, were published in August 2019. The Associated Press reviewed legal claims from families who said "their children were harmed while in government custody". [90] In 2018, "nearly 50,000 migrant children were housed in "foster homes, residential shelters and detention camps" under contract with the ORR. [90] Some minors were unaccompanied and others were separated from the families because of the zero-tolerance policy. [90] Arnold and Porter, one of the largest law firms in the world, have filed 18 Federal Tort Claims—a precursor to filing lawsuits—totaling $54 million against the Justice and Homeland Security departments on behalf of nine parents who "said their children were harmed while in government custody. An Arnold and Porter attorney said that there were likely "dozens more" lawsuits coming, including several from families who say "their young children were sexually, physically or emotionally abused in federally funded foster care." [90] The New York-based Cayuga Centers, which is the "largest foster care placement organization for migrant children", is named in "three of the four incidents involving physical harm". [90]

See also

Notes

  1. Cases from the United States District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal) are appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
  2. Flores v. Meese, 681 F. Supp. 665 (C.D. Cal. 1988). Jenny Lisette FLORES, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Edwin MEESE, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Harold W. Ezell, Defendants. No. CV 85-4544-RJK. United States District Court, C.D. California. March 7, 1988. National Center for Immigrants' Rights, Inc., Carlos Holguin, Peter A. Schey, Los Angeles, Cal., National Center for Youth Law, James Morales, Alice Bussiere, Teresa Demchak, San Francisco, Cal., American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU Foundation of Southern California), Paul Hoffman, John Hagar, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiffs. Robert C. Bonner, U.S. Atty., Frederick M. Brosio, Jr., Asst. U.S. Atty., Chief, Civil Div., Ian Fan, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants.
  3. The defendants included their agents, employees, contractors and/or successors in office and plaintiffs included named plaintiffs and all class members.
  4. The January 17, 1997 Archived December 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine Stipulated Settlement Agreement] of Flores v. Reno in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal.), docket 85-4544 RJK (Px)
  5. It was during the Presidency of George W. Bush, that the phrase began to be used as part of the political lexicon and it has been used since then. Writers and academics, such as Reece Jones, and Michelle Goldberg, have said that the phrase "catch and release" article is pejorative.
  6. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 28, 1983, by Thomas W. Beasley, Doctor Robert Crants and T. Don Hutto Beasley were the chief founders. Hutto had years of experience in corrections and was president-elect of the American Correctional Association. The two men met with representatives of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS, now ICE), which operated under U.S. Department of Justice from 1933 to 2003, to discuss a potential joint venture for a facility to detain illegal aliens in Texas.
  7. Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA)
  8. See Flores v. Lynch, 828 F.3d at 910
  9. Flores Settlement
  10. See Wright, 364 U.S. at 647.
  11. 6 U.S.C. § 279(G)(2). See D.B. v. Cardall, 826 F.3d 721, 734 (4th Cir. 2016) (affirming the classification of a child as an unaccompanied minor when his parent was present in the United States and holding that for a parent to be "available to provide care" for a child, the parent "must be available to provide what is necessary for the child’s health, welfare, maintenance, and protection".
  12. Thomas E. Price (Tom Price), M.D. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump from February 10, 2017 until his resignation on September 29, 2017 following the release of a review by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) regarding his use of private charters and military aircraft for travel.
  13. Walsman said that from October 2016 to September 2017, there were 46 cases in which alleged human traffickers had used minors to avoid detention when they entered the United States illegally. In the first five months of FY2018 there were 191 cases or 145 more than the 46 cases in 2017 which represents the increase of 315 percent, that DHS Secretary Nielsen referred to in her June 21, 2018 White House press briefing. NBC News said that the 191 cases represent 0.5 percent of the approximately 31,000 people who crossed the border illegally in the first five months of the FY2018. Raul Ortiz, who is Deputy chief of the Rio Grande Border Patrol Sector where most of these cases were reported, said that the 600 cases of family fraud identified by agents in Rio Grande Border Patrol Sector since October 2017, "did not involve human trafficking, or the illegal transportation of someone typically for sexual exploitation or forced labor...Trafficking is very different than trying to be smuggled between points of entry."
  14. According to a June 19, 2018 article in The Atlantic , President Trump's senior adviser Miller strategically and intentionally deploys successful tactics such as "constructive controversy"—for example, the issue of the detention of migrant children—to create a "showdown between Trump and his angry antagonists" in which the Trump administration has an opportunity to "enlighten" voters who "witness" the showdown. According to The Times, Miller said that "zero tolerance" would be a potent tool in a severely limited arsenal of strategies for stopping migrants from flooding across the border."
  15. In the interview Sessions said, "What’s happening is we are having more people coming bringing children with them entering [... between the ports of entry illegally, and [...] you cannot give them immunity. That’s an offense. We believe every person that enters the country illegally like that should be prosecuted. And you can’t be giving immunity to people who bring children with them recklessly and improperly and illegally. [...] And so those children are being well taken care of. Within 72 hours, they’re taken to the Health and Human Services to be sure they’re properly cared for. And [...] the adults will be prosecuted like the law requires."
  16. John F. Kelly who served as DHS secretary and later President Trump's chief of staff, and who left the Trump administration in January, is not the same person as John V. Kelly, the OIG senior official who tabled this report. According to a John V. Kelly was forced to retire from his position at OIG following reports that he "directed [OIG] auditors to produce what they called "feel-good reports" about FEMA's response to disasters — including Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and flooding in Louisiana in 2016 — that glossed over most problems."
  17. The Office of Inspector General (OIG), which is one of the largest federal government departments, reports to the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
  18. On July 2, 2019, Business Insider published a photo of the prison-style single-unit hybrid of a toilet and a drinking water fountain.
  1. 1 2 3 4 López, Rebeca M. (2012). "Codifying the Flores Settlement Agreement: Seeking to Protect Immigrant Children in U.S. Custody". Marquette Law Review . 95 (4): 1633–1677.
  2. 1 2 3 Flores v. Meese, CV 85-4544 RJK (Px) ( C.D. Cal July 11, 1985)("Complaint for Injunctive and Declarative Relief, and Relief in the Nature of Mandamus").
  3. "Flores v. Meese, 681 F. Supp. 665 (C.D. Cal. 1988)". Justia Law. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  4. Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
  5. "The rights of children in the immigration process" (PDF). ACLU. July 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  6. Flores Settlement Final Agreement Plus Extension Settlement (PDF), ACLU, January 17, 1997, retrieved July 31, 2019
  7. Attorney General Janet Reno et al v. Jenny Lisette Flores (PDF), 1993, p. 28, archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2019, retrieved July 31, 2019
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Jenny L. Flores, et al. v. Jeh Johnson, et al." (PDF), The New York Times, no. CV 85-4544 DMG (AGRx), United States District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal.), July 24, 2015, retrieved July 28, 2019
  9. "Judge Orders Release of Immigrant Children Detained by U.S." The New York Times . July 25, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Stephen Reinhardt. "Flores v. Sessions. No. 17-55208 D.C. No. 2:85-cv-04544- DMG-AGR" (PDF). Opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: 35.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Health and Human Services</span> Department of the US federal government

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of the U.S. people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America". Before the separate federal Department of Education was created in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from cross-border crime and undocumented immigration that threaten national security and public safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illegal immigration to the United States</span> Immigration to the United States in violation of US law

Foreign nationals (aliens) can violate US immigration laws by entering the United States unlawfully or lawfully entering but then remaining after the expiration of their visas, parole, or temporary protected status. Illegal immigration has been a matter of intense debate in the United States since the 1980s.

Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292 (1993), was a Supreme Court of the United States case that addressed the detention and release of unaccompanied minors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration detention in the United States</span>

The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 American immigration crisis</span> Surge in immigration along U.S. southern border

The 2014 American immigration crisis was a surge in unaccompanied children and women from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) seeking entrance to the United States in 2014. According to U.S. law, an unaccompanied alien child refers to a person under 18 years of age, who has no lawful immigration status in the U.S., and who does not have a legal guardian to provide physical custody and care.

In United States immigration enforcement, "catch and release" refers to a practice of releasing a migrant to the community while he or she awaits hearings in immigration court, as an alternative to holding them in immigration detention. The migrants whom U.S. immigration enforcement agencies have allowed to remain in the community pending immigrant hearings have been those deemed low risk, such as children, families, and those seeking asylum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration policy of Donald Trump</span> Policies regarding immigration of the Trump administration

Immigration policy, including illegal immigration to the United States, was a signature issue of former U.S. president Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and his proposed reforms and remarks about this issue generated much publicity. Trump has repeatedly said that illegal immigrants are criminals.

Casa Padre is a shelter for unaccompanied or separated immigrant minors in custody of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of Health & Human Services, located in Brownsville, Texas. The site opened in March 2017, and is still housing children in 2022. The building was formerly a Walmart store. The center is run by the nonprofit group Southwest Key Programs under contract from the federal government. Casa Padre is the largest licensed childcare facility in the United States, housing approximately 1,500 youths. The former Walmart store houses boys ranging from ages 10 to 17. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the group houses approximately 5,129 immigrant children in the United States, approximately 4 percent of the unaccompanied minors in the United States today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump administration family separation policy</span> Policy intended to deter illegal immigration

The United States family separation policy under the Trump administration was presented to the public as a "zero tolerance" approach intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation. In some cases, families following the legal procedure to apply for asylum at official border crossings were also separated. It was officially adopted across the entire US–Mexico border from April 2018 until June 2018. Under the policy, federal authorities separated children and infants from parents or guardians with whom they had entered the US. The adults were prosecuted and held in federal jails or deported, and the children were placed under the supervision of the US Department of Health and Human Services. More than 5,500 children, including infants, were removed and up to 2,000 still have not been reunited as of March 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protests against the Trump administration family separation policy</span>

Protests against the Trump administration family separation policy are a reaction to the Trump administration policy of separating children from their parents or guardians who crossed the U.S. border either illegally or to request asylum, jailing the adults and locating the minors at separate facilities under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ursula (detention center)</span> Detention facility

Ursula is the colloquial name for the Central Processing Center, the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center for undocumented immigrants. The facility is a retrofitted warehouse that can hold more than 1,000 people. It was opened in 2014 on W. Ursula Avenue in McAllen, Texas. In June 2018, it gained notoriety for the practice of keeping children in large cages made of chain-link fencing.

Family detention is the detention of multiple family members together in an immigration detention context. In the U.S. they are referred to as family detention camps,family detention centers, or family detention facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unaccompanied Alien Children</span>

Unaccompanied Alien Children is a United States government classification for children in immigration custody and the name of a program operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house and care for them. The term designates unaccompanied minors who are aliens, typically those who have been apprehended outside of a legal port of entry or judged inadmissible upon their entry.

The Tornillo tent city was a temporary immigrant detention facility for children located in Tornillo, Texas and operated by BCFS on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Department termed it an "emergency influx care facility" and named it the Tornillo Influx Facility. When it was built in June 2018, the capacity was 400 minor immigrants with a one month contract. It was later expanded to a capacity of 4,000 minors. As many as 2,800 teenagers were held at the site before its closure was announced in January 2019. This made it one of the largest facilities in ORR's Unaccompanied Alien Children Program. All immigrant children had left the facility by January 11, 2019. Nearly 6,200 minors cycled through the facility within the seven months it operated. The area was previously used for a few months in 2016 to process migrant families and unaccompanied minors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children</span> Migrant childrens detention center in Florida, United States

Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children is a 3,200-bed migrant children's detention center in Homestead, Florida. Until August 3, 2019, the center had been operated by Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (CHSi), which is a subsidiary of the homeland security operator Caliburn International. It was believed to be the only remaining for-profit child detention center for migrants. The organization has faced severe criticism concerning immigration. Senator Elizabeth Warren had demanded that the detention facility be "closed down", and calls for investigation and oversight grew stronger when it was revealed that the federal government had paid $33 million in just 46 days for 1,200 of the empty beds.

Clint Station is a United States Border Patrol station and migrant detention facility located four miles north of the US–Mexico Border in Clint, Texas. The facility was opened in 2013. In 2019, as reports about poor conditions for detained migrant children became public, the detention facilities at Clint became "the public face of the chaos on America’s southern border," according to The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump administration migrant detentions</span> 2019–2020 political controversy

The Trump administration has detained migrants attempting to enter the United States at the United States–Mexico border. Government reports from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General in May 2019 and July 2019 found that migrants had been detained under conditions that failed federal standards. These conditions have included prolonged detention, overcrowding, and poor hygiene and food standards.

The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1983 by lawyer Peter Schey with the mission of protecting and furthering the human and civil rights of immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized communities through nationwide class action litigation and activism.

References

  1. 83 Fed. Reg. at 45489.
  2. Multi-State Comment Letter November 6, 2018 pp.33
  3. "When Migrant Children Were Detained Among Adults, Strip Searched". NBC News. July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  4. Note, The Flores Settlement: Ripping Families Apart Under the Law , 48 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 31 (2018).
  5. Reno v. Flores , 507 U.S. 292 (1993).PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from judicial opinions or other documents created by the federal judiciary of the United States.
  6. Timm, Jane C. (June 19, 2018). "Fact check: Did Obama administration separate families?". NBC News . Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  7. Kandel, William A. (January 18, 2017). Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview (PDF) (Report). Vol. R43599. Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  8. "Flores v. Reno—Stipulated Settlement Agreement 85-4544 RJK (Px)" (PDF), United States District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal.), p. 28, January 28, 1997, archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2019, retrieved July 31, 2019
  9. "Legislative Updates – Homeland Security Act of 2002". Office of Legislative Policy And Analysis. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
  10. "Who We Serve – Unaccompained alien children". hhs.gov . October 2, 2012.
  11. Burnett, John (December 23, 2018). "What 'Unaccompanied Alien Children' Means". NPR.org. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  12. US Department of Health and Human Services. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA) (May 2, 2019). "Latest UAC Data – FY2019". HHS.gov. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  13. Hauslohner, Abigail (June 25, 2019). "U.S. returns 100 migrant children to overcrowded border facility as HHS says it is out of space". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Davis, Julie; Shear, Michael (June 16, 2018). "How Trump Came to Enforce a Practice of Separating Migrant Families". The New York Times . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  15. Lydgate, Joanna (January 1, 2010). "Assembly-line justice: a review of Operation Streamline" (PDF). Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  16. Rizzo, Salvador (April 4, 2018). "President Trump's claim that Democrats created 'catch and release' policies". Washington Post. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  17. Blitzer, Jonathan (February 17, 2017), "The Border Patrol Was Primed for President Trump", The New Yorker, retrieved July 28, 2019
  18. S. C. Gwynne, Walled Off, Texas Monthly (May 2006).
  19. "Testimony of The Honorable Michael Chertoff" (PDF). February 28, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2015. As of August 2006, all removable aliens caught at the border are detained until returned to their home countries.
  20. Jordan, Lara Jakes (August 23, 2006). "U.S. Ends 'Catch-And-Release' at Border". The Washington Post . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  21. "United States Profile". Global Detention Project. January 25, 2009. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  22. "United States List of Detention Sites". Global Detention Project. November 7, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Carl Hulse (July 9, 2014). "Immigrant Surge Rooted in Law to Curb Child Trafficking". New York Times.
  24. Young (Fall 2006). "To Dream or Not to Dream: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (Dream) Act". Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. 16 (1): 8, 9. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  25. "What is the DREAM Act and who are DREAMers?". LawLogix. Hyland. July 9, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  26. Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Balatova. "Central American Immigrants in the United States." Migration Policy Institute. September 2, 15. Accessed February 21, 2017.
  27. Laird, Lorelei. "Meet the father of the landmark lawsuit that secured basic rights for immigrant minors". ABA Journal . No. February 1, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  28. Corrections Corporation of America's Founders Tom Beasley and Don Hutto. CCA. February 27, 2013. Video on YouTube
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hennessy-Fiske, Molly (June 14, 2018). "'Prison-like' migrant youth shelter is understaffed, unequipped for Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy, insider says". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  30. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld; Shear, Michael D. (June 16, 2018). "How Trump Came to Enforce a Practice of Separating Migrant Families". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  31. Nakano, Katie Ling (April 2, 2010). "A Brilliant Shattering of Glass". Pacific Citizen. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014.
  32. "CAPAC Chair Chu Commends President Obama on Diversity of Judicial Nominations and a Record High Number of Asian Pacific American Federal Judges". CAPAC. In The News. May 31, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  33. 1 2 Fiscal Year-To-Date 2019 covers October 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019. U.S. Border Patrol Southwest Border Apprehensions by Sector FY2018 (Report). May 31, 2019.
  34. "Kelly says considering separating women, children at Mexico border". Reuters. Washington. March 6, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2019. About 54,000 children and their guardians were apprehended between Oct. 1, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, more than double the number caught over the same period a year earlier.
  35. 1 2 3 No Home For Children: The Homestead 'Temporary Emergency' Facility (PDF). Amnesty International (Report). London, UK. July 18, 2019. p. 33. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  36. Flores v. Sessions , F.3d863 (9th Cir.2017).
  37. Note, The Fragile Victory for Unaccompanied Children's Due Process Rights After Flores v. Sessions , 45 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 157 (2017).
  38. "Federal auditor calls for recouping $341K Tom Price spent on flights". POLITICO. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  39. 1 2 3 Stelloh, Tim (June 21, 2018). "Is there a surge of fake families at the border? Experts cast doubts". NBC News. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  40. Dickerson, Caitlin (April 20, 2018). "Hundreds of Immigrant Children Have Been Taken From Parents at U.S. Border". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  41. 1 2 Results of Unannounced Inspections of Conditions for Unaccompanied Alien Children in CBP Custody (PDF). Office of Inspector General (OIG) (Report). Washington, DC. September 28, 2018. p. 17. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  42. Dept. of Justice, Memorandum for Federal Prosecutors Along the Southwest Border, April 6, 2018. Entering the United States without inspection and approval is a civil offense and may also result in criminal charges. See 8 United States Code (U.S.C.) §§ 1227 (civil grounds for removal), 1325 (crime of improper entry), 1326 (crime of reentry), 1182(a)(6)(A) (grounds of inadmissibility for entering without inspection). The Department of Justice has the authority to decide whether and to what extent to prosecute Federal crimes.
  43. 1 2 3 4 Hegarty, Aaron (June 27, 2018). "Immigrant children: Timeline of the family separation crisis on border". USA Today. Retrieved July 28, 2019. Updated July 25, 2018
  44. Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, April 6, 2018.
  45. Coppins, McKay (June 19, 2018). "The Outrage Over Family Separation Is Exactly What Stephen Miller Wants". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  46. "ICE Arrests Dozens Trying to Sponsor Migrant Children in Government Care". Fortune. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  47. 1 2 Gonzales, Richard (May 23, 2018). "ACLU Report: Detained Immigrant Children Subjected To Widespread Abuse By Officials". NPR . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  48. "ACLU Obtains Documents Showing Widespread Abuse of Child Immigrants in U.S. Custody". American Civil Liberties Union (Press release). Washington. May 22, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  49. "US Attorney General Jeff Sessions On Children Separated From Parents At Border, F-1 Visas For PRC Students, And Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision". The Hugh Hewitt Show. June 5, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  50. Rosenberg, Eil. "Sessions defends separating immigrant parents and children: 'We've got to get this message out'". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  51. 1 2 3 4 "Nancy Pelosi, Other Congress Members, Tour San Diego Immigration Detention Facilities". KPBS Public Media. June 18, 2018. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  52. Ryan, Lisa (June 18, 2018). "Inside 3 Detention Centers Where Immigrant Children Are Kept From Their Parents". The Cut. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  53. Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (June 17, 2018). "It Was Hard To Take These Pictures, Knowing What Was Coming Next". NPR . Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  54. Schmidt, Samantha; Phillips., Kristine (June 22, 2018). "The crying Honduran girl on the cover of Time was not separated from her mother, father says". Washington Post . ICE said Sanchez was previously deported to Honduras in July 2013.
  55. Holson, Laura M. (June 22, 2018). "She Became a Face of Family Separation at the Border. But She's Still With Her Mother". The New York Times .
  56. When the Government Takes Your Children, Getty Images FOTO', June 14, 2018, retrieved July 29, 2019
  57. Thompson, Ginger (June 18, 2018). "Listen to Children Who've Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border" (text/html). ProPublica. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  58. Engelberg, Stephen (June 19, 2018). "DHS Chief is Confronted With ProPublica Tape of Wailing Children Separated from Parents". ProPublica. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  59. Hanks, Douglas; Medina, Brenda (June 18, 2018). "Up to 1,000 children held by immigration authorities now living in Homestead compound". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  60. 1 2 Smiley, David; Medina, Brenda; Daugherty, Alex; Chang, Daniel (June 19, 2018). "Nelson, Wasserman Schultz blocked from entering immigrant children shelter in Homestead". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  61. 1 2 3 Swisher, Skyler (June 22, 2018). "From extortion to sex exploitation, South Florida facilities holding migrant kids have faced problems". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  62. Shear, Michael D.; Goodnough, Abby; Haberman, Maggie (June 20, 2018). "Trump Retreats on Separating Families, but Thousands May Remain Apart". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  63. 1 2 3 Stempel, Jonathan; Chiacu, Doina (June 27, 2018). "U.S. judge orders migrant families to be reunited". Reuters. New York/Washington. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  64. 1 2 3 Burke, Garance; Mendoza, Martha (December 20, 2018). "'A moral disaster': AP reveals scope of migrant kids program". Associated Press. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  65. 1 2 Vassolo, Martin; Flechas, Joey (June 23, 2018). "Babies separated from parents are in immigrant shelters near Miami, lawmaker says". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  66. Leslie Sanchez Margaret Brennan (June 24, 2018). "Full transcript". Face the Nation . Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  67. Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (PDF), June 26, 2018, retrieved July 28, 2019
  68. "Attorneys ask court to intervene against U.S. over migrant kids'..." Reuters. June 28, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  69. Ms. L et al v U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, No. 18-00428.
  70. Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra; Greenberg, Zoe (June 30, 2018). "Protests Across U.S. Call for End to Migrant Family Separations". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  71. 1 2 Jordan, Miriam; Fernandez, Manny (July 9, 2018). "Judge Rejects Long Detentions of Migrant Families, Dealing Trump Another Setback". The New York Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  72. Ainsley, Julia; Lederman, Josh (June 10, 2019). "Top DHS watchdog retires early after criticism of his FEMA reports". NBC News. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  73. 1 2 Reints, Renae. "'It's Not a Home for Children.' Thousands of Migrant Children Remain in Shelters at the Border". Fortune. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  74. 1 2 Nawaz, Amna; Frazee, Gretchen; Oh, Rebecca. "'Why did you leave me?' In new testimonies, migrants describe the 'torment' of child separation". PBS NewsHour . Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  75. 1 2 "Are US child migrant detainees entitled to soap and beds?". BBC. June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  76. Escobar, Natalie (August 14, 2018). "Family Separation Isn't New". The Atlantic . Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  77. "Are US child migrant detainees entitled to soap and beds?". BBC News. June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  78. Hauslohner, Abigail (June 25, 2019). "US returns 100 migrant children to overcrowded Texas camp". Mercury News . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  79. Hauslohner, Abigail (June 25, 2019). "US returns 100 migrant children to overcrowded Texas camp". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on July 28, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  80. Chotiner, Isaac (June 22, 2019). "Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children". New Yorker. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  81. Cross, David; Baudisch, Portia (July 1, 2019). "Migrant women told to drink from toilet at El Paso facility, congressional members say". KEPR-TV . Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  82. Wilson, Christoper (July 2019). "AOC paints grim picture of U.S. migrant detention centers: 'People drinking out of toilets'". Yahoo News . Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  83. 1 2 Reiss, Jaclyn (July 1, 2019). "Here's what Mass. representatives said about their experience visiting migrant detention centers". The Boston Globe . Retrieved July 2, 2019.Representative Madeleine Dean labelled the situation as "a human rights crisis": 15 "women in their 50s- 60s sleeping in a small concrete cell, no running water. Weeks without showers. All of them separated from their families". Representative Lori Trahan said she saw women "sobbing in a crowded cell because they were separated from their kids." Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Judy Chu and Joaquin Castro alleged that Border Patrol had told detained migrant women to drink out of a toilet for water.
  84. Ferris, Sarah; Caygle, Heather (July 1, 2019). "Dems call for firing Border Patrol agents over 'vile' Facebook posts". Politico . Retrieved July 2, 2019. On 1 July 2019, several Democratic congressmen visited migrant detention centres in Texas, in a tour organized by Border Patrol agents at 48 hours' notice; the congressmen gave comments after the visits. Representative Marc Veasey said Border Patrol "went out of their way to show us facilities that were mostly empty", but the migrant detainees inside "described being deprived of daily showers and certain other rights".
  85. "Migrant children crisis: The big picture explained". BBC News. July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  86. Kanno-Youngs, Zolan (July 3, 2019). "Trump Says Migrants Are 'Living Far Better' in Overcrowded Border Facilities". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  87. Romero, Simon; Kanno-Youngs, Zolan; Fernandez, Manny; Borunda, Daniel; Montes, Aaron; Dickerson, Caitlin (July 9, 2019). "Hungry, Scared and Sick: Inside the Migrant Detention Center in Clint, Tex". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  88. Bolaños, Christine (July 23, 2019). "New Texas detention center for migrant children to close". The Guardian. Austin, Texas. Retrieved July 27, 2019. Last teenagers will leave by end of week – just a few weeks after the center opened and the media were taken on tours
  89. "Plans to Close Carrizo Springs Demonstrate Conditions That are Not in Children's Best Interests". Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  90. 1 2 3 4 5 "Claims of abuse in foster homes mount for migrant kids separated at border". Los Angeles Times. August 16, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  91. Communication and Management Challenges Impeded HHS's Response to the Zero-Tolerance Policy (PDF). HHS (Report).