Editorial: Freedom for Detained Families
It is wrong to justify their inadequate treatment in order to discourage other migrants from coming
Crédito: Getty Images
Locking up mothers and minors who come here to escape the violence in their countries is a violation to the Flores Settlement Agreement that for 18 years has governed the treatment of minors by immigration authorities. The Obama Administration’s argument that this policy dissuades migrants from coming to the U.S. does not justify continuing this inappropriate practice.
Last Thursday, the State Department replied to federal Judge Dolly M. Gee, who determined in June that the treatment given to children and mothers did not follow the Flores Agreement because of the “egregious conditions” of the holding cells that failed to meet the “safe and sanitary” requirements established under the agreement. Gee ordered the closing of detention centers unless a good reason to keep them open exists.
The federal government’s argument combined the aforementioned application of exemplary punishment to some migrants to prevent others from coming, with issues related to detainee processing.
It must be made clear that it is unacceptable that mothers and minors continue to be detained in bad conditions in order to stop others from coming. Legal observers point out that many of these families have a history that justifies their request for asylum. However, instead of being considered by their individual cases, they are mistreated and used as sacrificial lambs in a south-facing window meant to scare off and dissuade anyone thinking of coming here.
The Department of Homeland Security said a few months ago that it was reviewing the policies being applied to these families to facilitate their liberation through affordable bonds. We welcome this measure, but it is insufficient. The “dissuasion” argument being used now to justify detentions and the 60-page response to Judge Gee’s decision to close the centers contradict the good intentions expressed at that moment.
The Flores Settlement establishes a legal framework to treat minors and, now, the mothers who accompany them. The Administration conveniently ignored it because they thought that it did not apply in these cases. It would be best if they obey the agreement and, even better, if they free the detainees and respected them as individuals, instead of treating them as objects to teach a lesson
