Immigrant children were detained at "unsafe and unhealthy sites, where the Trump team seeks to end protection

Sandy West

A child developed a rash after preventing him from changing his underwear for four days. A young boy began bored and overwhelmed despair, hitting himself in his head. A child with autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder has been forced to go without medication, despite his mother’s appeals.

“I heard one of the officers saying about us,” A smell like Shly, “one of them is the detainee narrated in the file of the Federal Court.” Another officer responded, “They are S -.”

Migrant children’s lawyers collected these stories, and more, from young men and families detained in what they called “prison-like” throughout the United States from March to June, even with the Trump administration requesting a federal boycott judge to end the existing protection that provides for basic rights and services-including safe and healthy-detained children.

The administration argues that the protection assigned according to what is known as the Flores settlement agreement encourages immigration and overlap with its ability to develop immigration policy. The American Dolly Gee Judge, in California, is expected to issue a ruling on the request after the August 8 session.

With the existence of the applicable agreement, children are detained in customs facilities and the “unsafe and unhealthy” boundary protection such as tents, airports and offices for several weeks despite the agency’s written policy that says that people in general should not be detained for a longer period than 72 hoursAccording to June One of the migrant lawyers. in In addition to opposition The US Department of Justice may require the end of the Flores approval decree, and the lawyers have called for further monitoring of children in the detention of immigration.

“The biggest fear is that without Flores, we will lose a decisive line of transparency and accountability,” he said, “He said, he said,” Sergio PerezCalifornia -based Human Rights Center, based in California. “Then you have an ideal storm to abuse individuals, violate their rights, and the type of treatment that this country does not represent.”

the Floris Agreement It has set the minimum standards and supervision of migrant children detained since 1997, when she put an end to a lawsuit for a decade of time raised on behalf of non -accompanying migrant minors who had been subjected to weak treatment in unsafe and unfair conditions without access to medical care. The 15 -year -old Jenny Leste Flores was named from El Salvador, who was detained in the mid -eighties of the last century, and underwent sectoral inspections, and is alongside non -relevant men.

The agreement has set national standards to protect migrant children detained by the federal authorities, with the requirements of safe and healthy detention facilities, access to clean water, appropriate food, clothes, bedding, recreational and educational opportunities, and sanitation, as well as appropriate medical and mental health care. Children in detention migrants range from infants to adolescents.

In 2015, GEE spent that the agreement included children with adults.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Security, which includes the Customs, Border Protection and Execution of Immigration and Customs, rejected the registry to questions about the administration’s intention to end the Flores Agreement or about the conditions in which children are detained. in It is permissible to deposit the courtThe government lawyers argued, among other points, that the agreement is incorrectly directing immigration decisions to the courts, not the White House. American Public Prosecutor Pam Bondi also He said The Flores Agreement may “stimulate illegal immigration”, and that Congress and federal agencies have solved the problems that Flores are designed to fix.

Abyel Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in an e -mail to KFF Health News, that Ice’s detention facilities were “the highest standards.” “They are safe and clean, and they keep illegal foreigners awaiting final removal procedures.”

Immigration lawyer and researchers I pushed back By the way, the Flores Convention encourages migration, on the pretext that the conditions in the homelands lead them to move.

Trump is not the first president to seek or terminate the agreement.

In 2016, the administration of President Barack Obama sought in vain to exempt minors who accompanied the Flores agreement, arguing that the flow of migrants from Central America overwhelmed the regime.

In 2019, after a The policy that caused the family separationThe Trump administration announced that it would replace Fliuris with new systems to expand the family detention and eliminate the time of detention time. The courts also rejected the plan.

In 2024, President Joe Biden administration has successfully requested the removal of the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services from the agreement after the Refugee resettlement office merged some Flores standards in the agency’s regulations.

Understanding of unsafe conditions under the agreement also precedes the recent immigration campaign during the Trump era. One of the participants in 2019 said that lawyers who visit two detention centers in Texas found at least 250 infants, children and teenagers, some of whom were held in the facility for about a month. “The children were dirty and wearing clothes covered with physical fluids, including urine,” said the file.

Seven children It is known that she died During the federal reservation from 2018 to 2019, according to media reports.

In 2023, Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, 8, became Patient and died While in the customs nursery and the protection of the border in Texas for nine days. Her parents handed over medical records that explain in detail the girl’s medical history, including diagnoses of sickle cell disease and congenital heart disease, when she is detained. However, her mother’s repeated appeals for medical care were ignored.

Her family presented a Demanding illegal death in May.

Defenders are partially attributed to prolonged detention in the increasingly crowded facilities and the delay in medical care. The officials said they more Medical services and Related failure In the wake of deaths.

But with the Trump administration’s unprecedented batch to detention and deportation of migrants – including families – the threat to the health of children trapped in these swabs is concerned.

Daniel Hatoom, one of the senior lawyers overseeing Civil Rights Project in TexasOne of the groups that made the illegal death demand for the Andith family.

The latest reports of the specified screens continued by the ongoing court Lack of access to appropriate medical care; Extreme temperatures. A little outside Entertainment opportunities; Lack of appropriate food Clothes and inability to sleep in sleep.

The termination of the Flores Agreement will remove all external supervision of immigration detention facilities by observers and lawyers who ordered the court. The public will have to rely on the government for transparency about the conditions in which children are detained.

“Our regime requires that there be some supervision of the government, not only for the Ministry of Internal Security, but in general,” Hatoom said. “We know that. So, I don’t think the Ministry of National Security can the police itself.”

In the months that followed Trump’s office and the management of government competency led by Elon Musk, discounts, The administration closed DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Citizenship and Immigration Services Office, the Secretary of Grievances, and the Office of the Secretary of Grievances in the detention of immigration, which was aimed at adding a layer of supervision. After a lawsuit, the Trump administration Reverse procedures and note that the offices will remain openBut it is unclear how these offices were affected by the transformations of politics and discounts in employment.

Leecia Welch, a lawyer in the Legal Call Group Children’s rightsShe said that the Flores agreement itself, or the efforts made to keep the government responsible for adhering to its requirements, is not rooted in party policy. She said it raised concerns about the circumstances during the Biden administration as well.

“These are not political issues for me,” said Walsh. “How do you want our country to treat children? That’s it. It is very simple. It will not take it easily on any administration where children are hurting in their care.”

KFF Health News It is a national news room that produces in-depth press on health issues and is one of the basic operating programs in KFF-independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.