BREAKING NEWS; JUDGE SAYS DETAINED IMMIGRANT WOMEN, CHILDREN SHOULD BE RELEASED; ALLEGED NEWS

JUDGE SAYS DETAINED IMMIGRANT WOMEN, CHILDREN WHO WERE DETAINED AFTER CROSSING THE US-MEXICO BORDER SHOULD BE RELEASED BECAUSE THEIR DETENTION VIOLATES A 1997 COURT SETTLEMENT THAT PROHIBITS MINORS FROM BEING HELD IN UNLICENSED, SECURE FACILITIES; ALLEGED NEWS.

Victory for Immigrant Rights Lawyers
  The Associated Press reports that: "The decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California is a victory for the immigrant rights lawyers who brought the case, but its immediate implications for detainees were not yet clear.' [1]

90 Days
  On 25th July 2015, it was reported that on that Friday, Judge Gee gave the government 90 days to show why mothers and children should remain in detention.
  Immigration and Customs Enforcement should "[release] class members without unnecessary delay in first order of preference to a parent, including a parent who either was apprehended with a class member or presented herself or himself with a class member," Judge Gee wrote her decision as reported by The Los Angeles Times [1]

Detention 'Deplorable'
  The Federal Judge found their detention 'deplorable' and in grave violation of an earlier court settlement. An estimated 1,700 parents and children are being detained at three detention facilities, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania [2].
  In her 25-page ruling, Judge Gee said that children had been held in substandard conditions at the two Texas detention centers. She found 'widespread and deplorable conditions in the holding cells of the Border Patrol stations'. In addition, she wrote that federal officials 'failed to meet even the minimal standard' of 'safe and sanitary' conditions at temporary holding cells.
  'It is astonishing that defendants have enacted a policy requiring such expensive infrastructure without more evidence to show that it would be compliant with an agreement that has been in effect for nearly 20 years,' Judge Gee wrote. [2]
The ruling is at link [3]

Dreadful Plight
  In December 2014, Lumiere Charity wrote of the dreadful plight of Little Innocents at the US Southwest Border.
As reported at that time, an 11 year-old Guatemalan boy was allegedly found dead in the brush a mile from the Mexican border. This little lad was found with no shirt, only a white rosary.
With what suffering did this little mite face his last, unprotected, hours? What were his dreadful last hours like? What were the conditions he was fleeing from? With what faith in Divine Providence, his only possession a white rosary, did he leave this earth.

  Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra reportedly apprised that his officers encounter decomposed bodies 'quite often'. [4]

Hideous Conditions
Quotes from Case No. CV 85-4544 DMG (AGRx);
  'There are no classes for my children here, we are told they will start the 29th of this month ... We are not permitted visits with our family members.' [Page 14]
  'My two sons have both been ill since we arrived in Artesia. They had fever and coughs for about a week, and were also vomiting and diarrhea [sic] ... The doctor told me they didn't have medicine for them and that they should just drink water. More recently medicine arrived, and now both are getting better.' [Page 14]
  'Facility Staff stated that children detained at Karnes have never been permitted outside the facility to go to the park, library, museum, or other public places.' [Page 15]

'Plaintiffs present evidence that secure confinement can inflict long-lasting psychological, developmental, and physical harm on children regardless of their conditions.' [Page 15]
  'Plaintiffs also proffer evidence that children at KFRC specifically "are suffering emotional and other harms as a result of being detained" ' [Page 15]
  'Detainees, including children, are required to participate in a "census" or head-count three times daily.' [Page 15]
  'Numerous declarants referred to CBP facilities as hieleras or "iceboxes" and described being given coverings of aluminium foil that were inadequate to keep them warm.'  [Page 16]
  'When I was in the 'Perrerra', I was with 8 moms, with their small babies. We were given a small mattress and an aluminium blanket ... It was also super cold in that place ...' [Page 16]

  'Recent detainees also testified to overcrowding. Children and their mothers were held for one to three days in rooms with 100 or more unrelated adults and children, which forced children to sleep standing up or not at all.' [Page 16]

  'Inadequate nutrition and hygiene were also reported.'
'The cell had only two toilets for us to use ... There was no waste basket in the stalls, so people had to throw used ... [feminine hygiene wear] ...' and used toilet paper on the floors.' [Page 17]
'In the jail in McAllen ...[t]he moms slept there in the bathroom, with their babies in their arms ... The immigration officials, when the people asked for something to drink or to eat they answered that it wasn't their country, it wasn't their house. So they didn't bring them anything' [Page 17]
  'After the health screening, the detainees are separated by age and gender, although "every effort is made to keep young children with their parents" ' [Page 17]
  'Similarly, the lights are kept on at all times for security reasons and operational necessity' [Page 17]

Parents; children; mothers with babies
  Head counts three times a day; unable to go out to public places. Cold, lack of privacy.
Unsanitary conditions. Difficulties with nutrition. Mothers sleeping with their babies in arms in the bathroom.
At times separated by age and gender. Lights on continually.
It is time to urgently revisit these conditions.


[1] Judge says Detained Immigrant Women, Children should be releasedhttp://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/25/426252966/judge-says-detained-immigrant-women-children-should-be-released
 
[2] Judge blasts ICE, says immigrant children, parents in detention centers should be released, Alleged News http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-judge-orders-release-of-immigrant-children-mothers-from-detention-centers-20150725-story.html#page=1

[3] Case No. CV 85-4544 DMG (AGRx), Date July 24, 2015, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, CIVIL MINUTES - GENERAL; Alleged Newshttps://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2179157-flores-order.html

[4] US Southwest Border - Dreadful Plight of the Little Innocents, Alleged News. Is there anything you can do to help?http://lumierecharity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/children-facing-deportation-us.html
With thanks to npr.org, latimes.com, documentcloud.org
Image by Catherine Nicolette