Blight House Moves To Indefinitely Detain Non-White Migrant Children

From [HERE] The Trump administration wants to end limits on how long they can hold migrant children in custody. Instead of 20 days, they now want to hold them indefinitely.

Guests

Alan Gomez, immigration reporter for USA Today. (@alangomez)

Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. Lead attorney suing the Trump administration over separating immigrant families. (@leegelernt)

From The Reading List

The Hill: "Trump administration moves to end limits on detaining migrant children" — "The Trump administration on Thursday said it is seeking to indefinitely jail migrant children with their families, a policy that would overturn 20 years of protections for immigrant children.

"Under the Flores Settlement Agreement, which has governed the detention of migrant children since 1997, detaining children for more than 20 days is illegal. The proposed regulations would terminate that agreement.

"Under a proposed rule issued Thursday by the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, the administration said it would issue new regulations that 'satisfy the basic purpose' of the Flores settlement."

CNN: "Sessions to immigration judges: Immigrants' attorneys like 'water seeping' around law" — "Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a new group of immigration judges Monday that it is their job to 'restore the rule of law' to the immigration system over the contrary efforts of the lawyers who represent immigrants.

"The remarks at the training of the largest-ever class of new immigration judges implied that the judges were on the same team as the Trump administration, and that immigrants and their attorneys were trying to undermine their efforts."

PBS NewsHour: "More than 400 migrant children remain separated from their parents. Here’s what we know" — "More than 400 migrant children remain separated from their parents and under the federal government’s care, according to court documents filed this week.

"In late July — the deadline set by a federal judge for the U.S.to reunite more than 2,500 migrant families separated at the southwest border — federal agents had successfully reunited more than half of affected children with their parents. Now, the number of children that remain separated as a result of the Trump administration’s 'zero tolerance' policy hovers at 416, dozens fewer than reported in last week’s status update.

"Amid the ongoing reunification effort for these migrant families was Thursday’s news of the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to change the longstanding Flores agreement, which requires the government to hold immigrant children in the 'least restrictive setting' and generally release them after 20 days in detention."