Regulatory Comments Opposing the Indefinite Detention of Children

The Trump administration proposed new regulations undermining the 1997 Flores settlement agreement. The Flores Settlement sets limits on how long children can be detained in immigration detention centers and minimum standards for their care and custody while detained.

If the proposed regulations are finalized, they would weaken protections for children and place them at greater risk of trauma and mistreatment.

Before the regulations are finalized, the government was required to give the public an opportunity to submit regulatory comments under the Administrative Procedures Act. The American Immigration Council, in conjunction with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, submitted comments that highlighted:

• The extensive harm that would be caused by the indefinite detention of children and families in federal immigration detention facilities, which is both unnecessary and patently inhumane;
• The horrors that would result with a resumption of a family separation policy, which would be unnecessary and cruel;
• Handwritten statements from mothers detained in immigration detention centers demonstrating the poor conditions and harm caused by detention

This comment was submitted on November 6, 2017 by the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson on behalf of the American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.