WASHINGTON — Los migrant children waiting to be processed by the Border Patrol in makeshift camps on the border between Mexico and the United States are in the custody of that body and are subject to an old agreement, supervised by courts, that establishes standards for their treatment, resolved a judge.
The issue of when children are officially in Border Patrol custody is particularly important because of the 1997 court settlement over how migrant children in U.S. government custody should be treated. These standards include a time limit for the detention of minors and the provision of services such as toilets, sinks and temperature checks.
Wednesday’s decision means the Department of Homeland Security must quickly process the children and place them in “safe and sanitary” facilities.
The border camps have become a flashpoint between pro-immigrant groups and the federal government. The United States has said smugglers send migrants to camps and has argued that the children are not yet in Border Patrol custody because they have not been arrested.
And according to advocates for undocumented immigrants, the US government is responsible for the children and that the Border Patrol often drives migrants to the camps, sometimes taking them in vehicles.
Children traveling alone must be surrendered within 72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services. Generally, that agency releases them to relatives in the United States while an immigration judge considers the possibility of granting them asylum. Families seeking asylum are often released into the country while their cases wind through the courts.
“This is a tremendous victory for children in open-air detention centers, but it remains a tragedy that the court has to instruct the government to do what basic human decency and the law clearly require,” Neha said in a statement. Desai, director of immigration at the National Juvenile Justice Center. “We hope that Customs and Border Protection will promptly comply with the court’s order, and we remain committed to holding that agency accountable for meeting the most rudimentary needs of children in its legal custody, including food, shelter and basic medical care.” ”, with funds that are paid for by taxpayers.
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Source: With information from AP
