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
A Salvadorian immigrant questions a U.S. Border Patrol agents after she and her son were taken into custody on July 02, 2019 in Los Ebanos, Texas. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
'This Will Cause Irreparable Harm': Horror as Trump DHS Announces Rule to Allow Indefinite Detention of Migrant Families
"It is beyond logic and humanity to attempt to keep children locked up for as long as possible, especially when we know that this subjects them to trauma and extreme distress."
Aug 21, 2019
Rights groups reacted with horror and outrage on Wednesday after the Trump adminstration unveiled a rule that would allow the federal government to detain migrant families for an unlimited period of time.
"This is yet another cruel attack on children, who the Trump administration has targeted again and again with its anti-immigrant policies," Madhuri Grewal, policy counsel with the ACLU, said in a statement. "The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn't be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer."
"The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn't be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer."
--Madhuri Grewal, ACLU
The new rule, announced Wednesday morning by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, would terminate a 1997 court ruling known as the Flores settlement agreement. Flores bars the federal government from detaining immigrant children for more than 20 days.
Trump administration officials told NBC News that there would be "no limit on how long a family can be detained" under the new regulation, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of the week.
Denise Bell, researcher for refugee and migrant rights with Amnesty International USA, condemned the proposed rule as "extraordinarily cruel."
"It is beyond logic and humanity to attempt to keep children locked up for as long as possible, especially when we know that this subjects them to trauma and extreme distress," Bell said in a statement. "Children who have already endured violence and persecution would be harmed even further by this policy."
Once the proposed rule change is published in the Federal Register, it will be subject to a 60-day public comment period. The new regulation must also be approved by a federal court.
If the proposal takes effect, according to Buzzfeed, "it will likely result in thousands of families being detained while their immigration cases play out."
"The ever-increasing immigration court backlog means these immigrant families could be held for months or even years," Buzzfeed reported.
On Twitter, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus warned the rule, if implemented, will have devastating long-term consequences for children and their families.
"Flores protects migrant children from indefinite detention and inhumane conditions," said the Caucus. "Now, the Trump admin is trying to tear it up and indefinitely imprison families. This will cause irreparable harm to children."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. 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. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Rights groups reacted with horror and outrage on Wednesday after the Trump adminstration unveiled a rule that would allow the federal government to detain migrant families for an unlimited period of time.
"This is yet another cruel attack on children, who the Trump administration has targeted again and again with its anti-immigrant policies," Madhuri Grewal, policy counsel with the ACLU, said in a statement. "The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn't be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer."
"The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn't be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer."
--Madhuri Grewal, ACLU
The new rule, announced Wednesday morning by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, would terminate a 1997 court ruling known as the Flores settlement agreement. Flores bars the federal government from detaining immigrant children for more than 20 days.
Trump administration officials told NBC News that there would be "no limit on how long a family can be detained" under the new regulation, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of the week.
Denise Bell, researcher for refugee and migrant rights with Amnesty International USA, condemned the proposed rule as "extraordinarily cruel."
"It is beyond logic and humanity to attempt to keep children locked up for as long as possible, especially when we know that this subjects them to trauma and extreme distress," Bell said in a statement. "Children who have already endured violence and persecution would be harmed even further by this policy."
Once the proposed rule change is published in the Federal Register, it will be subject to a 60-day public comment period. The new regulation must also be approved by a federal court.
If the proposal takes effect, according to Buzzfeed, "it will likely result in thousands of families being detained while their immigration cases play out."
"The ever-increasing immigration court backlog means these immigrant families could be held for months or even years," Buzzfeed reported.
On Twitter, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus warned the rule, if implemented, will have devastating long-term consequences for children and their families.
"Flores protects migrant children from indefinite detention and inhumane conditions," said the Caucus. "Now, the Trump admin is trying to tear it up and indefinitely imprison families. This will cause irreparable harm to children."
Rights groups reacted with horror and outrage on Wednesday after the Trump adminstration unveiled a rule that would allow the federal government to detain migrant families for an unlimited period of time.
"This is yet another cruel attack on children, who the Trump administration has targeted again and again with its anti-immigrant policies," Madhuri Grewal, policy counsel with the ACLU, said in a statement. "The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn't be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer."
"The government should not be jailing kids, and certainly shouldn't be seeking to put more kids in jail for longer."
--Madhuri Grewal, ACLU
The new rule, announced Wednesday morning by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, would terminate a 1997 court ruling known as the Flores settlement agreement. Flores bars the federal government from detaining immigrant children for more than 20 days.
Trump administration officials told NBC News that there would be "no limit on how long a family can be detained" under the new regulation, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of the week.
Denise Bell, researcher for refugee and migrant rights with Amnesty International USA, condemned the proposed rule as "extraordinarily cruel."
"It is beyond logic and humanity to attempt to keep children locked up for as long as possible, especially when we know that this subjects them to trauma and extreme distress," Bell said in a statement. "Children who have already endured violence and persecution would be harmed even further by this policy."
Once the proposed rule change is published in the Federal Register, it will be subject to a 60-day public comment period. The new regulation must also be approved by a federal court.
If the proposal takes effect, according to Buzzfeed, "it will likely result in thousands of families being detained while their immigration cases play out."
"The ever-increasing immigration court backlog means these immigrant families could be held for months or even years," Buzzfeed reported.
On Twitter, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus warned the rule, if implemented, will have devastating long-term consequences for children and their families.
"Flores protects migrant children from indefinite detention and inhumane conditions," said the Caucus. "Now, the Trump admin is trying to tear it up and indefinitely imprison families. This will cause irreparable harm to children."
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.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy