February, 22 2021, 11:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
AIUSA media office,Email:,media@aiusa.org,Phone: 202-544-0200 x302
Carrizo Springs Detention Facility Cannot Become Status Quo for Children
Responding to the reopening of the Carrizo Springs, Texas detention facility for unaccompanied children, Denise Bell, the researcher for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA said:
"A government agency is not a parent for children. The reality is that children who are alone need to be accommodated for their safety while the government identifies and reunites them with appropriate sponsors. We don't want to endanger children and we don't want them held in detention or in facilities that don't meet their best interests.
WASHINGTON
Responding to the reopening of the Carrizo Springs, Texas detention facility for unaccompanied children, Denise Bell, the researcher for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA said:
"A government agency is not a parent for children. The reality is that children who are alone need to be accommodated for their safety while the government identifies and reunites them with appropriate sponsors. We don't want to endanger children and we don't want them held in detention or in facilities that don't meet their best interests.
"Kids need a place to call home - that's why they should be with their families, friends, and community members; this in the child's best interests. Children must only be held in Border Patrol stations for the bare minimum time, and certainly not for more than 72 hours, which are wholly inappropriate spaces for them, and they must continue to have access to safety in the United States.
"The Biden administration has inherited a system that holds unaccompanied children in temporary facilities and it will take time to move away from the system. It is important the administration limit their use and move quickly towards relying only on licensed facilities. Services in temporary facilities, like the permanent facilities, must include educational services, medical services, legal services, case management, clinicians, and services that support the security and health of the children."
Amnesty International USA is focused on the treatment of children seeking safety in the U.S. wherever they are -- from Customs and Border Protection facilities at the border, to Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities to ICE family detention centers. People can read more about AIUSA's recent work here.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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Google is also named as a defendant in the suit. In their filing, the plaintiffs argue that the tech company supported Character.AI's launch even though they knew that it was a "defective product."
The families, who are being represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project, have asked the court to take the product offline.
The explosive court filing comes not long after a mother in Florida filed a separate lawsuit against Character.AI in October, arguing that the chatbot service is responsible for the death of her teenage son because it allegedly encouraged him to commit suicide, per CNN.
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