US government wants to end long-standing agreement on custody supervision for migrant children – JURIST

The U.S. government filed a motion Friday to partially terminate a 27-year-old agreement that requires the federal government to comply with court oversight of the treatment of migrant children in its custody.

This action follows the Department of Health and Human Services' recent release of its own protective measures regulation, set to take effect July 1. Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, emphasized that these rules will establish “clear standards for the care and treatment of unaccompanied people.” [migrant] Children.”

The government argued in its filing Friday that ongoing judicial oversight has become obsolete and that implementing new regulations provides a more effective means of ensuring the safety of children. “27 years later, there is ample reason to believe that [Flores Settlement Agreement’s] Goals were achieved. The Court should terminate the FSA with respect to HHS,” the government wrote.

The 1997 Flores agreement grew out of more than a decade of legal battles between migrant children's rights advocates and the U.S. government, sparked by widespread reports of abuses in the 1980s. Lawyers for four teenagers, including Jenny Lisette Flores, a 15-year-old from El Salvador, filed a lawsuit detailing how Flores and the other plaintiffs were detained by the government for extended periods of time, often in facilities with no security related adults and were deprived of education and adequate medical care.

The agreement established guidelines for the detention, care and release of minors. It requires that migrant children be promptly released to their family, a child welfare program or an appropriate adult if family reunification is not possible. In most cases, children released under these conditions are placed with close relatives while their immigration proceedings are ongoing.

In cases where release is not possible for security reasons, the agreement stipulates that minors should be held in the least restrictive appropriate environment possible.

Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director at Children's Rights, which is representing children in the case, said Friday's filing “puts these children at risk of harm with no one to care for them.” After eight years Having heard the horror stories first hand from hundreds of children, I shudder to think what will happen when we are gone.”

The government says the upcoming rule, which takes effect in July, “implements and goes beyond” the standards set out in the Flores agreement. The new regulation establishes an independent ombudsman, sets minimum standards for emergency shelters and formalizes improvements in vetting procedures for the release of children to families and sponsors and for legal assistance.

Judge Dolly Gee, chief U.S. district judge for the Central District of California, which oversees the Flores agreement, would have to approve the government's request Friday to terminate the Flores agreement.