The state of California sued the Trump administration Monday to stop the implementation of a new rule that could lead to the indefinite detention of migrant children with their parents.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey are co-leading the legal challenge on behalf of 17 other states and the District of Columbia.
"No child deserves to be left in conditions inappropriate and harmful for their age. The actions by this administration aren't just morally reprehensible… they're illegal," said Becerra, standing next to Gov. Gavin Newsom during a press conference in Sacramento to announce the lawsuit.
If implemented, the rule would end a decades-old legal agreement, known as the Flores settlement, that says children must be promptly released from immigration detention or be transferred to state-licensed facilities.
Becerra said the new regulations, scheduled to take effect in late-October, would violate the due process rights of migrant kids and would diminish the state's oversight of facilities where migrant children are held under federal custody.
"This administration is not above the law. They cannot rewrite the rules to detain children for prolonged periods of time and infringe on the rights of states in the process," said Becerra. "We are ready to fight for the most vulnerable among us and we will do it whatever it takes to protect all of our communities."
Trump administration officials argue Flores has become a magnet for record numbers of Central American families crossing the southern border, because they say adults know that bringing a child with them will increase the likelihood of being released into the U.S.
"Human smugglers advertise, and intending migrants know well, that even if they cross the border illegally, arriving at our border with a child has meant that they will be released into the United States to wait for court proceedings that could take five years or more," said Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, when announcing the policy last week.
Plaintiffs — including Illinois, Michigan and Nevada — claim that the prolonged detention of immigrant children and families will also cause "irreparable harm" to the states that receive them upon their release from federal custody.
"The long-term impact of these harms will be borne by the States, which have robust programs and services to support the mental and physical health of their residents, including newly arrived immigrants," according to the complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
Courts have interpreted the Flores settlement to mean that migrant children must not be detained in unlicensed facilities for more than 20 days. Family detention centers operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not state licensed for the care of children.
Flores plaintiffs attorneys have already submitted a motion to block the new rules from going into effect to U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees Flores’ implementation. Gee sits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the same court where the multi-state coalition is now filing its lawsuit.
California is also concerned that the federal government will establish family detention facilities in the state, but that local authorities will be denied the ability to inspect conditions there, as they can with group homes and other residential programs for children that require a license from the California Department of Social Services.
Currently, there are three ICE family detention facilities, in Texas and Pennsylvania, with the capacity to hold more than 3,000 people. But since last October, immigration authorities have arrested or encountered nearly 470,000 people traveling in families, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers. Migrant parents with children who are found to have a credible asylum claim are often released on bond or with a GPS ankle monitor to await their hearings in immigration court.
Other states that joined the lawsuit are: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Becerra announced that the state is also asking a federal court in Northern California to block another Trump administration rule that would penalize lawful immigrants seeking green cards if they use public benefits such as food stamps, Medi-Cal or public housing vouchers. The state filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the so called "public charge" rule on Aug. 16.
California has filed nearly 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration, on environmental, immigration and other issues, under Becerra’s tenure.
This story has been updated.
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