U.S. Judge Partially Ends Judicial Oversight of Immigrant Children’s Care

From: https://apnews.com/us-news/general-news-767dce83ca9f174bc457812358c39f0a

A federal judge has granted President Joe Biden’s administration’s request to partially end a nearly three-decade-old agreement that provides judicial oversight of how the U.S. government cares for immigrant children in its custody.

District Judge Dolly Gee ruled that special judicial oversight can cease for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which assumes custody of immigrant children after they have been held by Border Patrol for up to 72 hours. The children are placed in a broad network of shelters and are generally handed over to close relatives.

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The Department of Justice argued that new safeguards, set to take effect on Monday, meet and in some aspects exceed the standards established in the so-called Flores Agreement, which instituted judicial oversight of shelter facilities in 1997.

Lawyers for immigrant children strongly opposed the federal government’s request, arguing that it has not developed a regulatory framework in states that have revoked licenses for facilities caring for immigrant children or may do so in the future, such as Texas and Florida. The judge dismissed these concerns, stating that the new regulations are sufficient to replace judicial oversight in those unlicensed centers.

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