A total of 19 states filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s Administration in order to protect the provisions of the Flores Agreement, a pact signed in 1997.
The lawsuits over these issues against the Trump administration are increasing each week with the purpose of preventing the mistreatment of immigrant children detained in border centers who could suffer prolonged confinement
The Flores Agreement establishes that undocumented minors cannot be detained for more than 20 days; a premise that was modified after a new regulation released last week.
California´s Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a press conference in Sacramento to file the lawsuit that “no child deserves to be subjected to inappropriate and harmful conditions for their age,” and they must be guaranteed medical and wellness services.
“We´re taking the Trump Administration to court to protect children from the irreparable harm caused by unlawful and unnecessary detention,” added the state attorney, who is leading the lawsuit alongside Massachusetts.
The legal action, filed in the court of the Central District of California, argues that the regulation released last Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) eliminates several protections guaranteed by the Flores Agreement, including the prolonged detention of minors and the consequent effect on the communities that receive them after their release.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, said that “once again, President Trump is ignoring basic human rights and using defenseless immigrant children as political laborers to promote his ideological agenda”
“California will protect the well-being and safety of all children, regardless of their origin or the color of their skin”, Newsom said at the press conference.
Californian courts have known about the issue since the 1980s, when the dispute that culminated in the federal Flores Agreement signed by then-President Bill Clinton was filed in Los Angeles.
Introducing the plan, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kevin McAleenan, said that the effects of the agreement should have lasted about five years and that the future measure, which is expected to go into effect by the end of October, “eliminates the incentive that encourages traffickers to exploit children.”
However, the complaint alleges that the new policy interferes with the ability of states to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of children because it subverts state licensing requirements for facilities where children are located.
The government’s announcement last Wednesday came after several defeats in federal courts about the Flores Agreement.
The most recent of these took place on August 15, when a panel of the Ninth Circuit of Federal Appeals Panel stated that the Government must guarantee the cleanliness and safety of minors.
Translated by: José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
