A Senator, a long-time critic of the policy of detaining non-criminal families consisting of mothers and children us demanding that the Obama administration conform to a federal judge’s current ruling. The ruling states that the government is going against a 1997 ruling that governed the way immigrant children were detained and when they should be released.

The New Jersey Democrat stated that the mothers and children being detained in the family detention centers should be released as soon as possible; these mothers and children are alleged to have fled the violence and poverty in the Central Americas – they had crossed the Rio Grande and arrived into the country. Many of them were seeking political asylum, having been kept in detention facilities and are awaiting a resolution of their case.

The senator said, “They are neither a flight nor a national security risk. Family detention policies are not only inhumane and unnecessary, they’re also illegal.” He went on to add, “what we want now that the court has ruled is swift enforcement of the court’s ruling,” Menendez said. “The government has to stop unnecessary detention, which is costly and inhumane.”

The senator also stated that the detention of immigrants in general should be transformed to give more attention to criminals, not people who have violated civil immigration rights.