Oregon, other states sue over rollback of child immigrant protections

(Update: Adding Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum news release)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Nineteen states, including Oregon, and the District of Columbia sued on Monday over the Trump administration’s effort to alter a federal agreement that limits how long immigrant children can be kept in detention.

“We wish to protect children from irreparable harm,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said as he announced the lawsuit he is co-leading with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Both are Democrats.

A 1997 agreement known as the Flores settlement says immigrant children must be kept in the least restrictive setting and generally shouldn’t spend more than 20 days in detention.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week it would create new regulations on how migrant children are treated. The administration wants to remove court oversight and allow families in detention longer than 20 days. About 475,000 families have crossed the border so far this budget year, nearly three times the previous full-year record for families.

A judge must OK the Trump administration’s proposed changes in order to end the agreement, and a legal battle is expected from the case’s original lawyers.

It’s not likely that U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee would approve the changes; it was her ruling in 2015 that extended the application of the Flores agreement to include children who came with families. She ordered the Obama administration to release children as quickly as possible.

Still, Becerra argued California has a role to play in the case because the state is home to so many immigrants.

“The federal government doesn’t have a right to tell us how we provide for the well-being of people in our state,” he said.

California does not have any detention centers that house migrant families. The Trump administration argued that because no states license federal detention centers, they wanted to create their own set of standards in order to satisfy the judge’s requirements that the facilities are licensed.

They said they will be audited, and the audits made public. But the Flores attorneys are concerned that they will no longer be able to inspect the facilities, and that careful state licensing requirements will be eschewed.

Becerra echoed that argument, saying that removing state authority over licensing centers could allow the federal government to place centers in California or other states that don’t meet basic standards of care.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson of Washington, also a Democrat, said prolonged detention will have long-term impacts on the mental and physical health of immigrant children and families.

“When we welcome those children into our communities, state-run programs and services bear the burden of the long-term impact of the trauma those children endured in detention,” he said.

California on Monday also sought to halt a Trump administration effort that could deny green cards to immigrants using public benefits.

Other states joining the lawsuit are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

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Associated Press journalists Colleen Long in Washington, D.C., and Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, contributed to this report.

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News release from Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum:

Oregon Joins Lawsuit Opposing Trump Administration’s Rule Allowing Prolonged Detention of Children

Salem, Oregon—Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today announced Oregon is joining a coalition of 20 state Attorneys General in filing a lawsuit opposing the Trump Administration’s new rule circumventing the Flores Settlement Agreement, which since 1997 has restricted how long children can be held in immigration custody. The Trump administration wants to change the Flores Settlement and replace it with a new rule that would increase the amount of time children could spend in federal custody.

The complaint, which will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, argues that the new rule eliminates several critical protections guaranteed by the Flores Settlement. In particular, longer detention periods rule would cause irreparable harm to children, their families, and communities throughout the United States.

“The harm and trauma the federal government is causing children by holding them in these detention centers is unacceptable,” said Attorney General Rosenblum. “Many of these centers are unlicensed and are unsuitable for children for one day—much less months at a time. The longstanding Flores Settlement, which this rule would negate, is one of the only things currently preventing the federal government from locking up innocent children in facilities with unsafe conditions for long periods of time. We must keep it in place.”

In the complaint, the coalition argues that the Trump Administration’s final rule interferes with the states’ ability to help ensure the health, safety, and welfare of children by undermining state licensing requirements for facilities where children are held. The rule would result in the vast expansion of family detention centers, which are not state licensed facilities and have historically caused increased trauma in children. In addition, the Attorneys General argue the rule violates both the Administrative Procedure Act and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Flores Settlement stems from a class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1985 in response to substandard conditions of confinement for unaccompanied immigrant children. The lawsuit sought to establish standards for how the federal government should handle the detention of minors, including plaintiff Jenny Lisette Flores. In particular, the plaintiffs expressed significant concerns about the use of strip searches, forcing children to share living quarters and bathrooms with adults of the opposite sex, and that minors could not be released to non-guardian relatives, leading to prolonged and cruel detention of children. Following litigation that moved through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal government eventually reached a settlement in 1997 resulting, among other things, in:

Release of children “without unnecessary delay” to their parents, legal guardians, other adult relatives, another individual designated by the parents/guardians, or a licensed program willing to accept legal custody; Placing children in the “least restrictive setting” appropriate to the minor’s age and special needs; and Establishment of standards for safe and sanitary conditions of confinement for children in immigration detention.

Attorney General Rosenblum joins the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia in filing the lawsuit.