November 5, 2018
Ms. Debbie Seguin,
Assistant Director, Office of Policy, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
US Department of Homeland Security
500 12th Street SW
Washington DC, 20536
DHS Docket No. ICEB-2018-0002

Dear Ms Seguin:

Kids Forward is submitting comments to the US Departments of Homeland Security and Heath and Human Services, related to the proposed rule, Apprehension, Processing, Care and Custody of Alien Minors and Unaccompanied Alien Children, ID ICEB-2018-0002.

For over a century, Kids Forward – a private, non-partisan, non-profit – has focused on improving conditions for families and children through policy change, expanded public investments and public education that lead to improvements in outcomes and practices in the delivery of publicly funded health care, education, workforce development, and social services.

As an organization that works to promote health and well-being for families and children – including immigrant families and those furthest from opportunity, we have serious concerns regarding the proposed rule to replace the Flores Settlement Agreement. The proposed rule would significantly endanger the emotional, mental, and physical health of immigrant children and their parents. We urge you to withdraw the proposed rule.

The proposed rule violates the intent of the Flores Agreement to establish protections and standards that ensure migrant children’s welfare and rights by minimizing their stay in detention, ensuring they are in the least restrictive environment possible, and adhering to adequate safety, health, and treatment standards. In contrast, the proposed rule would allow for indefinite detention of children and their families while their immigration cases proceed and reduce the safety and treatment standards such facilities need to provide.

Immigration cases can take up to several years to adjudicate, and detaining children with or without their parents for that protracted period of time can result in significant trauma and toxic stress that have negative implications for years into the future. The Flores Settlement Agreement requires that migrant children (and families) are kept in custody no longer than 20 days, under any circumstances, and ideally are released or transferred within 3-5 days of their initial detainment. It further states that children should be released to their parents or family members and if not possible, should be transferred to non-secured, state-licensed residential facilities.

Detention itself causes serious harm to children and families, and indefinite detention is immoral, inappropriate, and unjust. Whether with or without their parents, detaining children can cause serious mental and physical harm. There is no evidence that any amount of time in detention is safe for children.ⁱ

In fact, even short periods of detention can cause psychological trauma and long-term mental health risks for children.ⁱⁱ Studies of detained immigrants have shown that children and parents may suffer negative physical and emotional symptoms from detention, including anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder.ⁱⁱⁱ

Regardless of whether the child is detained with a parent, detention disrupts children’s routines and their sense of security and safety that parents often provide. Detention undermines a parent’s authority and autonomy, and decreases the ability for a parent to respond to their children’s needs. This situation can be exacerbated by a parent’s mental health challenges and trauma as a result of their own detention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ April 2017 policy statement cites findings from multiple sources that detention can case long-lasting trauma in children. Facilities were ruled in violation of Flores by California US District Court in August of 2015 but have been allowed to continue to detain families with children. Visits to family detention centers by pediatric and mental health advocates have revealed discrepancies between the standards outlined by ICE and the actual services provided, including inadequate or inappropriate immunizations, delayed medical care, inadequate education services, and limited mental health services.^iv Other reports describe prison-like conditions; inconsistent access to quality medical, dental, or mental health care;^v and lack of appropriate developmental or educational opportunities.^vi

Further, the proposed regulation creates a system that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to self-license facilities. DHS would also set the licensing standards and monitor compliance to those standards. The lack of external oversight, involvement, or control increases the likelihood that substandard facilitates will be allowed to remain in operation, subjecting children to inadequate care, abuse, substandard medical treatment, and increased trauma and mental or emotional harm. This proposed change would also increase the likelihood that children remain separated from their parents for protracted periods.

Lastly, one of the justifications for the proposed rule is the deterrent effect it is supposed to have on immigrants traveling here with their children. There is no evidence to suggest that such a policy will deter this practice. However, there is ample evidence that this policy will have a deleterious impact on immigrant children who are detained for longer periods of time in potentially sub-standard facilities.

Proposals like this rule that seek to override the Flores Settlement Agreement in order to allow for the longer-term, or indefinite, detention of children with or without their parents or to weaken federal child trafficking laws strip children of important protections designed for their safety and well-being and put their health and well-being at risk. We urge the agencies to withdraw this proposed rule.

Sincerely,

Ken Taylor

ED/CEO

Endnotes

i. Julie M. Linton, Marsha Griffin, Alan Shapiro, American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement: Detention of Immigrant Children, Apr. 2017, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2017/03/09/peds.2017-0483.

ii. Id.

iii. Id.

iv. Id.

v. American Medical Association, “AMA Adopts New Policies to Improve Health of Immigrants and Refugees,” June 12, 2017, https://www.ama-assn.org/ama-adopts-new-policies-improve-health-immigrants-and-refugees.

vi. Julie M. Linton, Marsha Griffin, Alan Shapiro, American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement: Detention of Immigrant Children, Apr. 2017, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2017/03/09/peds.2017-0483.