DOJ Takes First Steps Toward Indefinite Detention Of Families

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been critical of a court settlement that limits the ability of the government to indefinitely detain immigrant families. “It cannot be done.” In addition to ending limits on the length of time kids can be locked up, the Trump administration is asking the court to make family detention centers exempt from state licensure requirements for facilities that hold children. The Trump administration claims in the court filing that exempting facilities holding kids and parents from state licenses is justified by the “worsening influx of families unlawfully entering the United States at the southwest border.” The court filing follows an executive order from President Donald Trump on Wednesday that the president claimed would end the routine separation of migrant families apprehended at the border that resulted from a “zero tolerance” policy to prosecute illegal entry. The current limits on family detention, according to the court filing, create “a powerful incentive for aliens to enter this country with children in violation of our criminal and immigration laws.” It goes on to state that an increase in illegal border crossings by families since 2015 is due to a court order that detaining kids with their parents for more than about 20 days violated the 1997 Flores agreement. Former President Barack Obama received considerable pushback from immigrant rights advocates and some Democrats when he expanded family detention and had to limit the length of time families were held under the 2015 court order.