APA Speaks Out Against Administration Effort to Replace Flores Settlement

APA is speaking out against the Trump administration’s attempt to nullify a longstanding legal settlement that limits the time that migrant children can be kept in detention.

The Department of Homeland Security today issued a rule that seeks to replace the Flores Settlement Agreement, the federal consent decree that has set basic standards for the detention of migrant children and teenagers by the United States since 1997. The new rule could expand family detention and increase the time children spend in custody.

According to a report in The Washington Post, Homeland Security officials said the rule would eliminate a 20-day cap for detaining migrant children and create a new license regime that would make it easier for federal officials to expand family detention nationwide. The new rule will require the approval of a federal judge.

APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D., said in a statement that the move will harm children. “A substantial body of research shows that stressful events during childhood can lead to long-term developmental, learning, and health problems, not to mention a heightened risk of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder,” he said. “The Flores Settlement Agreement was intended to protect the well-being of children who are detained by immigration authorities, but the new rule would endanger their mental health by eliminating the 20-day limit on detainment and weakening licensing requirements of detention centers.”

Flores is a 1997 legal settlement of lawsuits filed on behalf of minors by immigration advocates against what was then known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for alleged maltreatment of migrant children. The settlement requires the government to release children from immigration detention without unnecessary delay to their parents, other adult relatives, or licensed programs. It also requires immigration officials to provide detained minors a certain quality of life, including food, drinking water, and medical assistance in emergencies.

“The children and families seeking asylum at the U.S. borders are already coping with the effects of the stress and trauma of leaving their home countries,” Schwartz said. “Compounded by the current conditions of detention centers, we urge the administration to consider the long-lasting, harmful impacts of this policy and withdraw this rule.”

For related information see the Psychiatric News article, "APA Maintains Pressure on Administration Regarding Welfare of Migrant Children."

(Image: OlegAlbinsky/shutterstock.com)

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In an about-face, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order yesterday halting his administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents who illegally cross the U.S. southern border. But Trump’s decision to continue his “zero tolerance” policy of border crossing will still place families into prison-like detention centers, perhaps long term.

It remains unclear what will happen to the more than 2,300 migrant children who have been separated from their parents since mid-May. Images of young children confined in steel cages and sleeping en masse on thin pads on concrete floors with aluminum-foil-like blankets sparked condemnation around the world, including from Pope Francis and all four living former first ladies.

APA led a coalition of mental health organizations in lobbying the administration to immediately halt its cruel policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S. border. “Children are dependent on their parents for safety and support. Any forced separation is highly stressful for children and can cause lifelong trauma, as well as an increased risk of other mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder,” wrote APA and 17 mental health organizations, including the American Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychoanalytic Association, in a letter sent yesterday to the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services.

“This is not an acceptable policy to counter unlawful immigration, and the administration must immediately rescind this course of action,” the letter continued. “We support practical, humane immigration policies that take into account what we know about the harmful, long-term psychological effects of separation on children and their families.”

The government, under a federal court order known as the Flores settlement, is prohibited from keeping migrant children in detention for more than 20 days. But Trump’s Executive Order instructs Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a request to modify Flores so it can detain families long term while adjudicating the criminal proceedings of the parents for improper entry. When combined with asylum claim evaluations, such proceedings can take months or years to resolve.

“Many families crossing the United States border are fleeing war and violence in their home countries and are already coping with the effects of stress and trauma,” APA President Altha Stewart, M.D., said in a statement opposing the separation of children from parents at the border released May 30.

APA is calling on its members to keep up the pressure and prevent further trauma from being inflicted on these children and families. APA has posted a form in its Action Center that psychiatrists can use to urge the administration to halt its destructive immigration policies immediately. Access the Action Center form now.

(Image: iStock/Suriyawut Suriya)

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