Biden administration seeks to change rules regarding migrant children

• The U.S. government wants to end the Flores agreement.
• The Department of Health and Human Services made the request.
• What will take its place?

The Department of Health and Human Services seeks to partially end the Flores agreement, which creates a framework for protecting how migrant children are detained in the United States.

This agreement has been vital to guarantee the safety and care of these minors.

The judge in charge of this case will have to make a decision the Department of Health and Human Services’ request.

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The U.S. government seeks to partially end the Flores agreement

The Department of Health and Human Services asked a federal court in Los Angeles this Friday to partially end the agreement.

For 30 years it has guaranteed the safety of migrant children who enter the country alone.

«Although we anticipated the completion of the Flores agreement, the rush of this Administration to end it without adequate supervision endangers the safety of thousands of children,» Leecia Welch told EFE.

Welch is deputy director of litigation for Children’s Rights, one of the organizations representing the immigrant children in the case.

What is the Flores agreement?

The Flores agreement, which was signed in 1997 after years of litigation, established rules about how federal authorities can detain minors.

It sets guidelines for how long children can be detained and in what conditions.

This framework also sets standards for how they are treated while in detention and ensures that outside lawyers and civil rights groups can monitor their care.

This applies to children who enter the U.S. accompanied by a family member or legal guardian, as well as those who are unaccompanied.

What damage could ending the agreement cause?

Welch warned that without the protection of the Flores agreement, lawyers will no longer be able to meet with migrant minors.

She pointed out that they «act as gatekeepers to ensure their rights are respected and prioritized.”

As part of its request to complete the agreement, the Biden administration has created new regulations to ensure the care of migrant children, according to Welch.

And while the regulations “have advantages,” they crucially overlook the fact that thousands of minors are in unlicensed shelters.

Will they fight for its preservation?

#HCHInternationals | The Biden administration wants to partially end an agreement, the Flores Agreement, that for 27 years has provided judicial oversight over how the federal government cares for migrant children in its custody.

https://t.co/biViaCywT2 pic.twitter.com/7ILzgmNX2m

— HCH Digital Television (@HCHTelevDigital) May 11, 2024

“As things stand, this omission leaves these children at risk of harm with no one to care for them,” Welch added.

She stated that they will present a petition to maintain the current agreement.

Judge Dolly M. Gee, of the Central California District Court, who for years has supervised the Flores agreement, will have to rule on the request.

This is not the first time that the U.S. government has sought to end or modify the agreement.

Trump tried to end it during his term

The Flores agreement has protected migrant children in the US for almost 3 decades. That could change: https://t.co/TiPUvLKrLH pic.twitter.com/OPDd3TGgJJ

— Telemundo Atlanta (@TelemundoAtl) May 11, 2024

In 2018, then-prosecutor Jeff Sessions asked Gee to modify the agreement in a way that would allow children to be held beyond the established limit. The request was denied.

A similar request was made by the Obama administration after the increase in unaccompanied children who entered the country in 2014, according to EFE.

The agreement is named after Jenny Flores, a fifteen-year-old minor who fled the civil war in El Salvador and after crossing the border in 1985, faced harsh treatment by immigration authorities.

This included a strip search and being locked up in a youth center for months without education, recreation and other support while awaiting deportation.