SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Bianey Reyes and others protest the detention of children on June 19, 2018 in El Paso, Texas. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Rights Group Charges Trump's Prolonged Detention of Children 'Completely Illegal'
"We hope this complaint begins a serious attempt to end to family detention, once and for all."
Mar 14, 2019
An immigrant rights group on Wednesday filed a civil rights complaint against the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the Trump administration is blatantly flouting the Flores agreement--the law that dictates how long the U.S. government can keep children in custody.
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) says that five children have been held at a detention center in Karnes City, Texas for at least 41 days, with at least one held for nearly three months. The prolonged detention is a clear violation of Flores, which prohibits the government from holding children for longer than 20 days, the group argued.
RAICES wrote in its complaint that the group had taken note of the "disturbing trend" at Karnes Detention Center and called for the immediate release of the children, who are as young as five years old. Most of the children are being held with their fathers but some of the families have been separated since first being detained.
"All children in detention, even those detained with their parents, have the same rights under Flores," RAICES wrote. "The Flores agreement states that a child must be released from detention 'without unnecessary delay' so long as they do not pose a flight risk or danger, i.e. they must be released within 20 days. Prolonged detention of children, even with their fathers, is a clear violation of Flores."
On Twitter, RAICES shared a number of #StoriesFromKarnes to call attention to the daily suffering of families who are being held indefinitely by the Trump administration.
RAICES' concerns for the well-being of the children at Karnes and in other detention centers echoes those of whistleblowers within DHS, who have warned that prolonged detention "poses high risk of harm to children and their families."
Calling on DHS's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to investigate all complaints of violations at Karnes and to ensure that the children are released to sponsors, RAICES said in a statement that the group aims to end the detention of families for any period of time.
"RAICES is against family detention, period," the group said. "The practice is abominable and retrograde. The United States is worse off because of it. We hope this complaint begins a serious attempt to end to family detention, once and for all."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
An immigrant rights group on Wednesday filed a civil rights complaint against the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the Trump administration is blatantly flouting the Flores agreement--the law that dictates how long the U.S. government can keep children in custody.
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) says that five children have been held at a detention center in Karnes City, Texas for at least 41 days, with at least one held for nearly three months. The prolonged detention is a clear violation of Flores, which prohibits the government from holding children for longer than 20 days, the group argued.
RAICES wrote in its complaint that the group had taken note of the "disturbing trend" at Karnes Detention Center and called for the immediate release of the children, who are as young as five years old. Most of the children are being held with their fathers but some of the families have been separated since first being detained.
"All children in detention, even those detained with their parents, have the same rights under Flores," RAICES wrote. "The Flores agreement states that a child must be released from detention 'without unnecessary delay' so long as they do not pose a flight risk or danger, i.e. they must be released within 20 days. Prolonged detention of children, even with their fathers, is a clear violation of Flores."
On Twitter, RAICES shared a number of #StoriesFromKarnes to call attention to the daily suffering of families who are being held indefinitely by the Trump administration.
RAICES' concerns for the well-being of the children at Karnes and in other detention centers echoes those of whistleblowers within DHS, who have warned that prolonged detention "poses high risk of harm to children and their families."
Calling on DHS's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to investigate all complaints of violations at Karnes and to ensure that the children are released to sponsors, RAICES said in a statement that the group aims to end the detention of families for any period of time.
"RAICES is against family detention, period," the group said. "The practice is abominable and retrograde. The United States is worse off because of it. We hope this complaint begins a serious attempt to end to family detention, once and for all."
An immigrant rights group on Wednesday filed a civil rights complaint against the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the Trump administration is blatantly flouting the Flores agreement--the law that dictates how long the U.S. government can keep children in custody.
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) says that five children have been held at a detention center in Karnes City, Texas for at least 41 days, with at least one held for nearly three months. The prolonged detention is a clear violation of Flores, which prohibits the government from holding children for longer than 20 days, the group argued.
RAICES wrote in its complaint that the group had taken note of the "disturbing trend" at Karnes Detention Center and called for the immediate release of the children, who are as young as five years old. Most of the children are being held with their fathers but some of the families have been separated since first being detained.
"All children in detention, even those detained with their parents, have the same rights under Flores," RAICES wrote. "The Flores agreement states that a child must be released from detention 'without unnecessary delay' so long as they do not pose a flight risk or danger, i.e. they must be released within 20 days. Prolonged detention of children, even with their fathers, is a clear violation of Flores."
On Twitter, RAICES shared a number of #StoriesFromKarnes to call attention to the daily suffering of families who are being held indefinitely by the Trump administration.
RAICES' concerns for the well-being of the children at Karnes and in other detention centers echoes those of whistleblowers within DHS, who have warned that prolonged detention "poses high risk of harm to children and their families."
Calling on DHS's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to investigate all complaints of violations at Karnes and to ensure that the children are released to sponsors, RAICES said in a statement that the group aims to end the detention of families for any period of time.
"RAICES is against family detention, period," the group said. "The practice is abominable and retrograde. The United States is worse off because of it. We hope this complaint begins a serious attempt to end to family detention, once and for all."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.