Federal judge: Let doctors into child migrant detention centers, quickly

[demmiblue]

Source: CNN

(CNN)A federal judge has ordered US Customs and Border Protection to permit health experts into detention facilities holding migrant children to ensure they're "safe and sanitary" and assess the children's medical needs.

The order encompasses all facilities in the CBP's El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors, which are the subject of a lawsuit.
Video shows border patrol agents reviving migrant teen

Last week, lawyers asked US District Judge Dolly Gee to hold President Donald Trump's administration in contempt and order immediate improvements at the facilities. The lawyers are part of a team of doctors and advocates that warned last week of what they said were major health and hygiene problems at Customs and Border Protection facilities in Texas following visits to the facilities.

"Children are held for weeks in deplorable conditions, without access to soap, clean water, showers, clean clothing, toilets, toothbrushes, adequate nutrition or adequate sleep. The children, including infants and expectant mothers, are dirty, cold, hungry and sleep-deprived," the court filing said.



Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/30/us/child-migrant-detention-center-doctors-federal-judge/index.html

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. K & R

[dalton99a]

2. "Torture facilities"

Dr. Dolly Lucio Sevier, who interviewed 39 children, likened the conditions in the detention centers to "torture facilities," according to a court filing.

"That is, extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water or adequate food," the pediatrician said. "All 39 detainees had no access to hand-washing during their entire time in custody, including no hand-washing available after bathroom use."

[demmiblue]

6. +1

[vlyons]

3. Well finally

Do the medical pros have to report back to the court? They should.

[Leghorn21]

4. K&R

————Thank you, Judge Gee

LET’S GO HERE

[ehrnst]

5. Unleash the lawyers!

This may be the fastest way to get aid to those kids - via ACLU or other legal orgs going straight through the courts.

They may have the tools to bore through the WH shitstorm more directly than having to go through the shitstorm-friendly GOP Senate via legislation.

The lawyers are part of a team of doctors and advocates that warned last week of what they said were major health and hygiene problems at Customs and Border Protection facilities in Texas following visits to the facilities.

[JudyM]

24. Smiling at the Shakespeare...

Many on the ‘right’ only wish they could kill all our lawyers.

[Bayard]

7. Yes!

I said last week--lawsuits asking for emergency action are the way to go.

Good on this judge!

[elleng]

12. This judge (and court) have been on it for 22 years.

The federal government, however, has NOT been so much.

[csziggy]

31. The Flores case that the ACLU is now trying to enforce began in 1985

The Flores settlement: A 1985 case that sets the rules for how government can treat migrant children
June 27, 2019 2.26pm EDT


In the 1980s, the Reagan administration aggressively used detention of Central Americans as a device to deter migration from that region, where violent civil wars had caused tens of thousands to flee.

<SNIP>

One suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1985 on behalf of Jenny Lisette Flores, a 15-year-old from El Salvador. She had fled violence in her home country to live with an aunt who was in the U.S.

<SNIP>

In its 1993 ruling in the case, the court held that a regulation allowing the government to release a migrant child to a close family member or legal guardian in the United States was legal.

But the primary legacy of the case was the subsequent settlement, to which both the Clinton administration and the plaintiffs agreed in 1997.

The Flores settlement established basic standards for the treatment of unaccompanied minors who were in the custody of federal authorities for violating immigration laws.

More: http://theconversation.com/the-flores-settlement-a-1985-case-that-sets-the-rules-for-how-government-can-treat-migrant-children-119501

[TNNurse]

8. I keep waiting for the UN or a decent country to send in troops

to liberate the camps.

[pazzyanne]

15. That could be considered an act of war,

especially with the trigger happy tRump administration in power.

[elleng]

9. 'The judge cited a July 2015 order chronicling "widespread and deplorable conditions

in holding cells" and a June 2017 order documenting "unsanitary conditions at certain CBP facilities."

"Plaintiffs claim that CBP has continued to commit many of the same violations years later," Gee wrote.

The judge wrote in the order that she is aware that a sudden influx of migrants presents challenges and that the conditions at the facilities are not static, but the 1997 agreement demands defendants compose a plan outlining its efforts "to place all minors as expeditiously as possible."

"If 22 years has not been sufficient time for Defendants to refine that plan in a manner consistent with their 'concern for the particular vulnerability of minors' and their obligation to maintain facilities that are consistently 'safe and sanitary,' it is imperative that they develop such a comprehensive plan forthwith," Gee wrote, using italics for emphasis.'

[Martin Eden]

10. This is a REAL emergency

If the president has the authority to transfer funds in an emergency, why hasn't he done so already to address a crisis in which children are suffering and dying?

(this is a rhetorical question; we know the answer)

[AJT]

11. Sadly, the ruling will be challenged. It will be a while before it gets through the courts.

[elleng]

13. It's BEEN challenged, years ago;

long story with this case, but it's OLD law, and the federal government has failed to uphold it's obligations.

[AJT]

25. I don't think they will comply, they know nothing will happen to them.

[jimmil]

14. You know

They will find the healthiest among the children (who speak English naturally) and scrub them up, promise food and candy, and do a dog and pony show for the cameras. Nothing to see here. Move along now. Bye bye and buy bonds.

[ehrnst]

16. What makes you think that people will accept that - especially those who are on DU? (nt)

[Arazi]

17. Hope they can get in there today ffs

[Bettie]

18. The administration will assert

privilege and refuse to allow access.

This will go through another round of court action and, if it is decided against them, they will do the same thing again...or move the children to military bases and declare that civilian doctors can't be allowed there for national security reasons.

[in2herbs]

19. Just a thought: It costs $775/day to house each invididual in a tent. instead of tents, why

not lease a cruise ship and "house" them in the cruise ship. Some of these cruise ships can carry 5,000 or more passengers. There are medical facilities on board, rooms, water, access to food, etc. Also, the cruise ship could be docked away from land, thereby reducing the need for CBP employees (some would be needed on board.)

[dalton99a]

20. +1

[lunatica]

22. Your example assumes that the problem is

the children themselves and also assumes their detention is required and that the only problem is how to warehouse them more effectively. You are advocating for a better way to incarcerate them and seem to overlook that the problem is why incarcerate them at all.

If cruise ships were used as concentration camps, because face it, that’s what is happening, they would quickly become death ships. Would you stick toddlers into the cabins and let them fend for themselves out of sight of the few adults charged with caring for them? Would you hire more people for maid service just to keep the bathrooms clean and the diapers changed? Would you quarantine the sick children in a specified section of the ship? Would you protect children from abuse and sexual predation that the isolation of putting them in cabins affords?

You know, stuff like that.

[in2herbs]

27. Boy, did you make the wrong assumption about my post. nt

[lunatica]

28. Yeah, sure.

[RobertDevereaux]

21. We need action on this NOW. TODAY!

[onecaliberal]

23. K&R

[tblue37]

26. Trumpies don't care about court orders. nt

[riversedge]

29. ...setting a July 12 deadline, according to The New York Times......

good grief. They get 2 weeks to do this!


https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/451075-federal-judge-orders-cbp-to-let-doctor-into-border-facilities

............ an independent monitor must ensure conditions in detention centers are promptly addressed, setting a July 12 deadline, according to The New York Times.

[Tre45on]

30. Which begs the question...

Would I be crossing the line if I were to refer to Jared Kushner and Sheldon Adelson as KKKapos?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

32. Good