ICE Held Migrant Children in Hotels, Who Was Watching Them?

Hotels were used 186 times while 10,000 beds for children remained empty at government shelters

Despite anti-trafficking laws and decades-old legal precedent, the Trump administration has been detaining migrant children as young as 1-year-old in hotels before deporting them, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. By circumventing the rules that govern the treatment of migrant children the administration is putting them at risk for abuse.

Advocates and lawyers argue that holding migrant children in hotels exposes them to trauma as they are not properly equipped to hold them and those attending to them are contractors for which we have no evidence of their ability to care for children. Civil rights groups have challenged the use of hotels under the Flores court settlement agreement.

The Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA) has been in place for more than two decades. It sets limits on the length of time and the conditions in which children can be cared for in immigration detention centers. The Trump administration sought to terminate the FSA’s legal safeguards through proposed regulations in September 2018. The administration attempted to eliminate the provision that requires children to be transferred to non-secure licensed facilities within five days of apprehension. Trump’s proposed regulations included policies that allowed the government to incarcerate more families for longer periods.

On September 27, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee issued a permanent injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing the new regulations expanding its ability to detain migrant children with their parents for indefinite periods. The Justice Department had urged the judge to allow the Trump administration to withdraw from the FSA.

The FSA also mandates favoring the release of migrant children to a parent, legal guardian, adult relative, or licensed program. Upon taking a minor into custody, a prompt and continuous effort toward family reunification and release must be made and documented. Maintaining up-to-date records of minors held for longer than 72 hours, including biographical information and hearing dates, are also required. The settlement lays out minimum standards for licensed programs specifying that facilities must comply with all applicable child welfare laws and regulations.

Under the agreement, the government is required to provide physical care, food, clothing, grooming items, routine medical and dental care, immunizations, medication, individualized needs assessments for each child, educational assessments and plans, statements of religious preferences, assessments identifying family members in the U.S., education services and communication skills, English language training, recreation and leisure time, and access to social workers and counseling sessions. Visitation and contact with family members — regardless of immigration status — along with family reunification services are also required.

As America now knows, over the last two decades CBP and ICE have rarely met the guidelines outlined in the FSA and it’s only gotten worse under the Trump administration. While Republicans and Democrats alike have rarely adhered to the agreement, no previous administration has taken the inhumanity of the U.S. immigration system as far as Trump has.