June 22, 2018 — IRC responds to the motion filed yesterday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to remove core protections established in the Flores settlement.
Said Ellen Beattie, Senior Director, Program Quality & Innovation –
“The IRC is deeply shocked by the motion filed yesterday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking to allow minors to be detained in non-licensed facilities indefinitely, as long as their parents are detained. In its current state, minors can only be detained by immigration authorities for up to 20 days, after which the government must release them to safe homes in the United States.
“The IRC also recognises and condemns the Executive Order signed on June 20th, which is not a solution. While it ends child separation as a policy, it leaves multiple loopholes to continue separating families, and it doesn't reunite the thousands of children who have already been separated and sent to various corners of the country.
“The prosecution at the border conducted against legitimate asylum-seekers under Zero Tolerance is still effectively criminalising the right to seek asylum. Administration policy, despite the executive order, still allows for imprisonment of families seeking asylum, and continued separation of children from their families based on a list of vague exceptions.”