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 young migrant girl sits on the floor as her father, recently released from federal detention with other Central American asylum seekers, gets a bus ticket at a bus depot on June 11, 2019, in McAllen, Texas. (Photo: Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images)
Because Covid-19 Leaves 'No More Time for Half Measures,' Judge Orders Release of Children Held by ICE
Advocates are calling on the agency to also immediately release parents.
Jun 27, 2020
A federal judge ruled Friday evening that immigrant children held in ICE detention must be released by July 17 due to the danger of the coronavirus pandemic, an order that was met with urgings from rights groups for the concurrent release of parents as well by the agency.
"The ball is in ICE's court now which means it's actually on all of ours to get families released TOGETHER," tweeted immigrant lawyer group RAICES.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Dolly Gee on Friday ruled in favor of the release, calling the public health situation in immigration detention a catastrophe. At least 2,500 people in ICE detention to date have tested positive for the coronavirus.
"The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures," Gee wrote in her ruling.
As the New York Times reported, Gee has been a frequent impediment to President Donald Trump's ongoing war on immigrants:
Judge Gee oversees compliance with the 1997 Flores settlement agreement that sets national standards for the treatment and release of detained immigrant children.
The Trump administration has been trying to terminate the settlement for the last two years, but those efforts have been blocked by Judge Gee and are currently being appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Immigrant families attorney Amy Maldonado told the Associated Press that the danger of the pandemic and the need for child safety make the case for ICE to release parents as soon as possible.
"They need to make the sensible choice and release the parents to care for their children," said Maldonado.
The order does not specifically order ICE to release the parents of the children and allows the agency to continue to detain children if they do not have a parent or relative to take them in.
"The thing is... Judge Gee can't technically order the release of parents BUT she did make clear that ICE the ability to do so," explained RAICES. "It's just at their discretion. Which isn't great news considering their track record and unwillingness to release people from detention before."
University of California, Davis Immigration Law Clinic co-director Holly Cooper said in an interview with NPR she hoped the ruling would push ICE to do what's right for the children.
"What we're hoping is that ICE will do the humane thing, and not separate any child from their parents because that's what the children want," said Cooper. "That's what our class members want. That's what the advocates want. That's what the parents want."
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.
A federal judge ruled Friday evening that immigrant children held in ICE detention must be released by July 17 due to the danger of the coronavirus pandemic, an order that was met with urgings from rights groups for the concurrent release of parents as well by the agency.
"The ball is in ICE's court now which means it's actually on all of ours to get families released TOGETHER," tweeted immigrant lawyer group RAICES.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Dolly Gee on Friday ruled in favor of the release, calling the public health situation in immigration detention a catastrophe. At least 2,500 people in ICE detention to date have tested positive for the coronavirus.
"The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures," Gee wrote in her ruling.
As the New York Times reported, Gee has been a frequent impediment to President Donald Trump's ongoing war on immigrants:
Judge Gee oversees compliance with the 1997 Flores settlement agreement that sets national standards for the treatment and release of detained immigrant children.
The Trump administration has been trying to terminate the settlement for the last two years, but those efforts have been blocked by Judge Gee and are currently being appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Immigrant families attorney Amy Maldonado told the Associated Press that the danger of the pandemic and the need for child safety make the case for ICE to release parents as soon as possible.
"They need to make the sensible choice and release the parents to care for their children," said Maldonado.
The order does not specifically order ICE to release the parents of the children and allows the agency to continue to detain children if they do not have a parent or relative to take them in.
"The thing is... Judge Gee can't technically order the release of parents BUT she did make clear that ICE the ability to do so," explained RAICES. "It's just at their discretion. Which isn't great news considering their track record and unwillingness to release people from detention before."
University of California, Davis Immigration Law Clinic co-director Holly Cooper said in an interview with NPR she hoped the ruling would push ICE to do what's right for the children.
"What we're hoping is that ICE will do the humane thing, and not separate any child from their parents because that's what the children want," said Cooper. "That's what our class members want. That's what the advocates want. That's what the parents want."
A federal judge ruled Friday evening that immigrant children held in ICE detention must be released by July 17 due to the danger of the coronavirus pandemic, an order that was met with urgings from rights groups for the concurrent release of parents as well by the agency.
"The ball is in ICE's court now which means it's actually on all of ours to get families released TOGETHER," tweeted immigrant lawyer group RAICES.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Dolly Gee on Friday ruled in favor of the release, calling the public health situation in immigration detention a catastrophe. At least 2,500 people in ICE detention to date have tested positive for the coronavirus.
"The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures," Gee wrote in her ruling.
As the New York Times reported, Gee has been a frequent impediment to President Donald Trump's ongoing war on immigrants:
Judge Gee oversees compliance with the 1997 Flores settlement agreement that sets national standards for the treatment and release of detained immigrant children.
The Trump administration has been trying to terminate the settlement for the last two years, but those efforts have been blocked by Judge Gee and are currently being appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Immigrant families attorney Amy Maldonado told the Associated Press that the danger of the pandemic and the need for child safety make the case for ICE to release parents as soon as possible.
"They need to make the sensible choice and release the parents to care for their children," said Maldonado.
The order does not specifically order ICE to release the parents of the children and allows the agency to continue to detain children if they do not have a parent or relative to take them in.
"The thing is... Judge Gee can't technically order the release of parents BUT she did make clear that ICE the ability to do so," explained RAICES. "It's just at their discretion. Which isn't great news considering their track record and unwillingness to release people from detention before."
University of California, Davis Immigration Law Clinic co-director Holly Cooper said in an interview with NPR she hoped the ruling would push ICE to do what's right for the children.
"What we're hoping is that ICE will do the humane thing, and not separate any child from their parents because that's what the children want," said Cooper. "That's what our class members want. That's what the advocates want. That's what the parents want."
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.