New Trump Administration Rule To Severely Harm Migrant Children - Rights Group

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd August, 2019) The Trump administration's newly announced final rule doing away with a 1997 agreement will result in a severe harm to migrant children who may be held in detention facilities in the United States for an indefinite period of time, Human Rights Watch Acting Deputy Director Clara Long said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the Trump administration issued a final rule that allows for replacing the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA) - a court settlement agreement that regulates detention of migrant children and imposes a 20-day detention limit.

"The detention of children can lead to trauma, suicidal feelings, and exposure to dangerously inadequate medical care," Long said in a press release. "No amount of time in detention is safe for children and prolonged detention is particularly harmful.

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Trump administration has called the Flores Settlement Agreement a "loophole" that encourages migrants to bring children with them when they cross the US border so that they are more likely to be released in the United States after a brief detention and less likely to face deportation.

Under the Flores Settlement Agreement, migrant children held in detention facilities in eth United States should be released as expeditiously as possible and cannot be detained for more than 20 days in facilities not licensed for childcare.

The new Trump rule provides keeping migrant children with their families in Federal custody for indefinite period of time, pending resolution of immigration proceedings.