Talks that were being held secretly over the family detention program have broken down, which now means that a federal judge will make a ruling on how and when immigrant mothers and children can be locked up during the asylum and other court procedures.
Department of Justice officials and lawyers for the mothers have been engaged in high level talks for nearly two months, trying to negotiate new agreements after a U.S. District Judge found that locking up mothers and children in secure facilities went against a 1997 agreement on detaining migrant children.
The negotiations were extended more than twice before they got abandoned. The exact reason for the breakdown is unclear, but the two sides have not exactly been able to agree on conditions under which mothers and children could be held.
“At this stage the parties are unable to reach an agreement that would resolve the currently pending motions,” the two sides said in a joint motion. “The parties agree that at this stage, further discussion would not be fruitful.”
The spotlight now turns to the judge, who, based on her draft ruling was expected to rule favorably for the immigration lawyers. In her recent draft ruling the judge swiped away federal officials’ claims to “rosy account of the conditions” at the federal centers and said children and mothers should not, for example, be held in a concrete-block facility built to house adult prisoners.
It was stated that agency rules were violated by deporting thousands of undocumented immigrant children between the years 2009 and 2014, in a federal audit that was recently released.
Around 93 per cent of children who were under the age of 14 were sent back without recording how it was ensured that the children would be safe once they returned to their home countries.
Detention centers have been finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the large influx of unaccompanied children; these children come in from across the Mexico border and are basically from countries like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Only last year the President of the United States stated that 47,000 unaccompanied children crossed the country’s borders, leading to what he called an “urgent humanitarian situation”.
A lawyer said, “Agencies just do not have the training, the understanding of humanitarian protection, to make the assessment of these children who come in from Mexico before sending them back to their home countries.”
Children under 14 from most other countries go before a judge to have their safety verified, but children from Mexico and Canada are exempt from this rule; instead, they are asked a set of questions by a border officer or agent.
Dramatic steps are being taken by Federal officials in order to comply with a court order, that includes executive action by President Obama on immigration; the officials are knocking on doors of immigrants and warning them that they could be in danger of being deported by the end of the month.
Issues facing the Obama government fell way beyond proportion earlier in the month, with the District Judge of Texas demanding that the DHS Secretary and other top immigration officials appear in his courtroom and explain why they should not held on contempt of court.
The DHS which is monitoring President Obama’s immigration actions, had issued 3-year work permits to immigrants who stood protected from deportation, even after the Texan judge had blocked such documents.
The immigrants in the spotlight were those who had been brought to the country illegally when they were children, but were protected under a 2012 Obama directive.
Government officials are striving to ensure that the three-year work permits that were mistakenly received by the immigrants are changed to two years. But by this Friday, it is being planned by USCIS officials to get in touch with the immigrants who have not returned their three-year work permits to warn them that their protection from deportation and ability to work will end altogether by July 31, so they would have to return their three-year documents, according to the memo issued.
Immigration lawyers are exerting pressure on lawmakers in the country to pass laws that allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition.
A persevering debate was heard, with many advocates getting emotional and choking back tears, as they described why the immigrants should be offered a cheaper resident rate at state educational institutions.
“I think it’s unconscionable that we would prevent these students from bettering themselves, from shaping their futures,” said an advocate.
In 2012 a former governor had signed an executive order in 2012 that allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates as long as they had work permits.
It was argued by many young and undocumented immigrants who had lived in the United States all their lives that they grew up there and should, therefore, be allowed to go in for a decent college education that was affordable. A student stated, “I am not an international student. I’ve been here since I was two and neither should I be treated like one. Do not play politics with my life or their lives.”
At present, in-state tuition or some type of financial aid are offered by 18 states in the country for undocumented students, including: Connecticut, Florida and California.
