Advocates Say Trump’s Flores Rule Change is ‘a Call for the Mass Internment of Children’
By Sarah Tiano
Excerpt
The Trump administration is expected to formally release new regulations Friday that would remove time limits on how long the federal government can detain migrant children.
The new rules would end the 1997 Flores agreement which prevents the government from keeping detained minors in immigration custody for more than 20 days, whether they’re with their families or traveling alone. It also sets standards of care and treatment while in detention facilities, including requiring that children are provided with food and drinking water, access to bathroom facilities, emergency medical assistance and adequate temperature control and ventilation, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
“If implemented, the rule will deny asylum-seeking children basic necessities, and they and their families will face indefinite imprisonment,” said Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), in a statement.
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