Trump Rule To Imprison Migrant Children Longer 'Blatantly' Violates Law - US Rights Group

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2019) The Trump administration final regulation that will permit indefinite detention of migrant children in Federal custody is illegal, New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) Executive Director Steven Choi said in a press release 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.

"Trump's move to indefinitely detain families seeking asylum is a blatantly illegal and senselessly cruel attack pulled directly from Stephen Miller's anti-immigrant, anti-family playbook," Choi stated.

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 the 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.

NYIC joined Human Rights Watch and other rights groups in denouncing the rule, arguing that it will impose severe harm on migrant children. Choi said in a statement that NYIC expects "our legal system to stop this illegal assault on vulnerable families."