The Biden administration’s amended rules on migrants seeking asylum at the southern border is facing its first legal challenge from lawyers representing children already in the United States who entered the country by themselves.
On Friday, attorneys for the migrant children argued in a Los Angeles court the new mandate provides fewer protections for their clients.
The lawyers maintain the new executive actions shouldn’t supplant the decades-old Flores agreement.
The 1997 settlement agreement followed more than a decade of civil litigation, accusing the U.S. government of mistreating migrant children throughout the 1980s
The lawsuit alleged the four teenagers named as plaintiffs, including 15-year-old Jenny Lisette Flores, were held for prolonged periods of time, often rooming with adult strangers, and that medical care and education were also withheld.
There has been a surge in unaccompanied minors arriving at the border since 2014. Last year, border officials arrested 130,000 migrant children.
The Biden administration claims the settlement is outdated, and wants the court to vacate the agreement, made with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The health department notes the new rules exceed the standards outlined in the settlement.
The children’s lawyers disagree, and say the feds have let states control local facilities caring for minor migrants, and claim the new rules don’t do enough to address the care of children with special needs.
Advocates maintain the Flores agreement has successfully ensured the safety of migrant children for years, and that any modifications to the agreement could be counterproductive.
With Post Wire Services
