November 6, 2018
In public comments submitted to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Children’s Rights strongly opposes proposed regulations that would fundamentally change the way immigrant children are held in and released from detention.
Under current rules, a child is typically released from custody unless detention is required for safety or to ensure court attendance. Under DHS’s proposed changes, however, a child will remain in detention indefinitely unless the child’s family meets more stringent and discretionary requirements. DHS itself anticipates these proposed rules will result in longer detentions for thousands of children.
Children’s Rights argues that the proposed rules are unconstitutional, ineffective, punitive, and poorly considered. They will do tremendous harm to children and families trying to escape violence and hardship whose only crime is to believe that they will have an opportunity for a better life in the U.S.