For the past year, the Flores Settlement Agreement has been the backbone of our reporting.

The agreement, which has protected the rights of migrant children for two decades, is the reason we uncovered the improper drugging ([link removed]) of migrant children at a Texas facility. It’s why lawyers and pediatricians had access to border facilities this summer, where they saw sick children ([link removed]) in dirty clothes. It’s the reason we have access to court records detailing conditions inside the roughly 170 shelters for unaccompanied children across the country.

This summer, the Trump administration released new regulations that would replace the Flores agreement, eliminating key safeguards ([link removed]) that could lead to the indefinite detention of children.

The future of the agreement is now uncertain. Although a federal judge recently blocked the government’s proposal, it’s likely the Trump administration will appeal.

We wanted to explore the Flores case’s history and its significance in immigration policy. The settlement was the result of a 1985 class-action lawsuit on behalf of migrant children in U.S. custody, who were being subjected to things like body cavity searches ([link removed]) and overcrowded rooms.

Our Patrick Michels and Dylan Bergeson spent a few months taking a deep dive into its roots for Flores Under Fire, a video explainer that we published this week. ([link removed])

Here are a few highlights:
* In the 1980s, El Salvador was locked in a civil war. President Ronald Reagan wanted to make a symbolic victory against communism in the small Central American country, so the U.S. gave the Salvadoran government millions of dollars to fund its war efforts. Thousands of Salvadorans were tortured or killed by the end of the war, forcing more than 500,000 refugees to seek asylum in the U.S. Among those refugees was a 15-year-old known as Jenny Flores, who would later become the lead plaintiff in the case that still carries her name today.

* The man who began the U.S. policy of detaining children is a fast-food executive that raised money for Reagan’s election campaign. Although Harold Ezell had no experience in child welfare, he created a policy that said refugee children in U.S. custody would only be released to a parent or guardian. “The allegation was that they were using the children, holding the children as bait to capture their parents,” said Carlos Holguín, a lawyer in the Flores case.

* The government held migrant children in abhorrent conditions. One location was a former motel in Hollywood with a seedy history of drugs and sex work. Government workers drained the pool and installed razor wire around the premises. Children languished at the motel without recreation, schooling, or any visitors.

You can watch the video here. ([link removed])

DEVELOPMENTS WE’RE WATCHING
* The ACLU is seeking damages ([link removed]) on behalf of migrant families that were separated at the border in the last two years. In a lawsuit ([link removed]) filed last week against the Trump administration, the lawyers say that many children and parents now suffer from mental health conditions, like severe anxiety and depression, as a result of the time they were separated by border officers. The ACLU also seeks to create a fund to pay for mental health services for the families.

* The Trump administration is planning to collect DNA samples from detained immigrants that would be entered into a national criminal database. Officials say the DNA records would help them identify immigrants that have previously entered the country, but immigrant advocates say the plan raises privacy concerns “for an already vulnerable population,” The New York Times reports. ([link removed])

* New “public charge” rules that would bar immigrants receiving public benefits from obtaining green cards is scheduled to take effect Oct. 15. Under the new rules ([link removed]) , the Department of Homeland Security would consider factors like education, health and financial status to decide which immigrants will be allowed to live in the U.S. The agency could also deny green cards to legal immigrants using public benefits like Medicaid and Section 8 housing. Many immigrant advocates have expressed concerns that it would impact U.S.-born children who have immigrant parents. Meanwhile, a string of lawsuits challenging the rules could block the new regulations. ([link removed])

3 THINGS WE’RE READING

1. How Immigration and Customs Enforcement used surveillance to find and arrest undocumented immigrants in a Washington state community. (The New York Times Magazine ([link removed]) )

The story chronicles how ICE uses recorded calls from detention facilities and driver’s license information from state DMV databases to target immigrants.

The kicker: But public records make clear that ICE, like other federal agencies, sucks up terabytes of information from hundreds of disparate computer systems, from state and local governments, from private data brokers and from social networks. It piggybacks on software and sharing agreements originally meant for criminal and counterterrorism investigators, fusing little bits of stray information together into dossiers. The work is regulated by only a set of outdated privacy laws and the limits of the technology.

2. Border Patrol agents are writing “Facebook” as a street address for migrants waiting for their immigration court dates in Mexico. (BuzzFeed News ([link removed]) )

Asylum-seekers are given a charging document called a “notice to appear” that includes information on their upcoming court hearing. It also includes an address where they can be contacted if that date changes. But some border officers are leaving that part of the form blank, or simply jotting down someone’s profile name on Facebook.

The kicker: "'Facebook' is the most egregious example of the Department of Homeland Security doing away with the aspect of proper notice," Leidy Perez-Davis, policy counsel at the American Immigration Lawyers Association told BuzzFeed News. "Facebook is not an adequate way to serve an NTA."

3. A U.S. citizen was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint earlier this year. He was released, but the government is still trying to deport him. (Dallas Morning News ([link removed]) )

Francisco Erwin Galicia was in immigration custody for about a month during his senior year of high school, even though he was born in the U.S. The government is still processing him for deportation.

The kicker: Galicia received a letter from ICE this past weekend informing him that the notice to appear in immigration court that he received in July — in which the Department of Homeland Security alleges that Galicia isn't a U.S. citizen and that he falsely claimed to be one — has been filed in the court of an immigration judge in Harlingen. He's now awaiting a court date.

Your tips have been vital to our immigration coverage. Keep them coming: [email protected]. – Laura C. Morel
Fact-based journalism is worth fighting for.
Yes, I want to help! ([link removed])
Your support helps give everyone access to credible, unbiased facts.
============================================================

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
The Center for Investigative Reporting . 1400 65th St., Suite 200 . Emeryville, CA 94608 . USA