The Trump administration and lawyers representing migrant children in federal custody faced off in court in California Friday over long-standing protections for detained minors.
U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee heard arguments from lawyers fighting against children being held for long periods of time in inappropriate conditions at Border Patrol detention sites, and from the government seeking to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement.
The agreement, established in 1997, sets national standards for minors in federal custody, including those accompanied by adults. The standards require conditions at detention sites to be “safe and sanitary,” and limits how long a child can be held in federal custody.
After the hearing concluded, Diane de Gramont, one of the attorneys representing detained minors, told Scripps News Group she and co-counsel were “optimistic that the court is not inclined to terminate the settlement.”
"Over the past 10 years, we've had to bring repeated motions to enforce the settlement related to basic things like children not having soap for multiple days, children not being given showers or toothpaste or toothbrushes,” de Gramont told Scripps News ahead of Friday’s hearing.
“We don't think it should be controversial that kids should get to see the outdoors, you know, at least once a day, and that they should be able to go to the toilet in privacy, and they should be able to shower,” she added. “This is really just basic dignity.”
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The lawyers have long argued that without agreement, the government would be left to its own internal monitoring, which she said she has zero confidence that basic conditions will be met if that were to happen.
“Just getting kids to be able to go outside once a day has been a huge uphill battle. And so, if there wasn't any settlement in place and the government was left to its own, you know, internal monitoring, we have no confidence that even really basic conditions would be respected,” de Gramont said.
The Trump administration has argued that standards set by the Flores Settlement Agreement are already being met and thus the 1997 consent decree can be terminated.
The Trump administration has also argued that the agreement incentives migrants to illegally enter the us if they know their kids will be released and likely parents along with them. But de Gramont disagreed.
“The settlement only covers children's conditions in custody and prospects for release to a sponsor in the U.S. if one is available,” de Gramont told Scripps News Group. “And so it doesn't provide any protection from deportation. It doesn't prevent the government from deporting anybody.”
