Have you heard of the Flores Settlement Agreement? In short, it’s an agreement that grants essential rights to detained immigrant children. The Trump administration is proposing to terminate this important agreement so that it can detain children indefinitely and skirt its licensure requirements. Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds, probably worse. But the good news is that we have a short window of time to oppose this by way of registering a public comment with the government. This window closes this coming Tuesday, November 6, so please act fast!
Would you please take 2 minutes out of your day to submit a comment?
These rules would allow for indefinite detention of children who were seeking asylum with their families in facilities it “self certifies” are safe for children. They would roll back basic requirements for how children are treated in custody, including their access to food, education, and even hearings before an immigration council.
Please submit a public comment following this website:
https://www.fwd.us/action/stop-family-detention-comment/
Need help thinking of what to say? Consider the following questions as you draft your comments:
- Would this regulation impact you, personally? Your family or friends? Your employees? A business you are a part of, or patronize? Your neighborhood?
- Do you have any expertise in an area that touches on these proposed regulations?
- Legal
- Trauma
- History
- Advocacy
- Knowledge of conditions in nations from which asylees are fleeing.
- History of working with asylum seekers?
- Medicine
- Incarceration (personal or professional)
- What is your opinion of asylum-seekers, both characteristics of the group and what they’ve gone through on their journey here?
- What do you admire and/or value about immigrants and/or asylum seekers?
- What do you think about the practice of incarcerating children and families?
- If you oppose this practice, why?
- What are the elements of this proposed regulation that you feel are unjust, unfair, cruel, illegal, and/or problematic?
- What, in your opinion, is the correct way to manage the influx of asylum seekers? What other options do you see as feasible and workable solutions to managing asylum applicants?
- Releasing to family and/or community based settings, as we have historically done.
- Providing families with legal counsel, which increases their likelihood of attending court dates to 96%.
- Ankle bracelets, which cost $8/day, as opposed to incarceration, which costs hundreds of dollars per person, per day.
- How does this proposed regulation violate our values as a nation, or your values as a member of a community (faith, ethnic, generational, etc.)
- What historical precedents would you like the administration to avoid repeating?
- What parts of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or other foundational American texts would you like to remind the administration of as they weigh their decision?
- And finally, what are you waiting for?! Please submit a comment TODAY!
Countless immigrant children thank you in advance for your time and concern.
CDF-Texas Senior Health Policy Associate