Customs and Border Patrol pass out snacks to apprehended migrants as they wait to be processed at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas in 2019. U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee found the government over several years repeatedly violated the 1997 Flores agreement, which ensures proper treatment of migrant children in U.S. custody. File Photo by Justin Hamel/UPI |
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April 4 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to quickly remove migrant children from open-air detention facilities in southern California and house them in safe conditions while they await formal processing.
Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued an order Wednesday declaring the children were under the legal custody of the Department of Homeland Security and therefore entitled to safe housing even if they were not formally processed.
The lawyers who represented the children argued they are entitled to housing and services under the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which established standards of treatment for migrant children in government custody, including that they be housed in facilities with toilets, food and drinking water.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice argued the department was not obligated to provide such services as the children were not yet formally taken into custody. They did not, however, dispute the poor conditions of the sites.
"CBP has been apprehending and transporting minors to safe and sanitary U.S. Border Patrol facilities in a prompt manner ... But until that occurs, plaintiffs are not in DHS custody," DHS lawyers wrote.
Gee argued that even though the children have not been formally processed, the fact that their movement is controlled by CBP agents means they are under the legal custody of the U.S. government.
The court order, which takes effect immediately, is expected to impact thousands of children at seven open-air sites near San Diego and Jacumba Hot Springs in southern California.
Migrants might wait at these temporary holding sites for days before CBP transfers them to indoor facilities to formally process them.
Immigration activists have reported "squalid" conditions at these facilities, with children often not receiving adequate food and the sites lacking in a sufficient number of dumpsters and portable toilets.
"This means that the [open-air sites] not only have a foul smell, but also that trash is strewn about the [sites], and class members are forced to relieve themselves outdoors," Gee wrote.
Gee has repeatedly found violations of the Flores agreement over the past several years and under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Nearly 152,000 migrant apprehensions occurred in the San Diego sector in just the first five months of fiscal year 2024, a nearly 72% increase from FY2023.
Agency officials argued the current immigration system is not equipped to handle this influx of migrants and that Gee's ruling did not come with additional resources to make her order achievabel.
Gee, however, was relentless in her order, noting despite "practical difficulties," CBP "has not been processing class members as expeditiously as possible," and that it "finds the ability to process children more efficiently in times of scrutiny."
