On Sunday, October 4, 2020, the Ninth Circuit denied an outrageous request from the Department of Homeland Security, in which the agency asked the appellate court to stay (pause) a federal court decision from September, which ordered DHS to end its practice of detaining children in hotels because it violates federal law. DHS twice sought to stay the order—in other words, the agency asked to be allowed to continue holding children in hotels while it appealed the September ruling.  

For more than three years, the administration has systematically and ruthlessly targeted children seeking protection at our borders while repeatedly violating laws enacted by bipartisan governments to protect the most vulnerable migrants. Locking children in hotels so that they could be returned to their countries without a single question about their safety is just the latest example of the government’s callous disregard for children’s safety.

“The trial court’s September decision confirmed what we know to be true: that immigrant children must be recognized and treated as children. Detaining children in hotels, under the supervision of ICE agents or ICE contractors who have no expertise in child rights, development, or trauma, is the opposite of acting in their best interests—it leaves them vulnerable to harm and violates their legal and human rights,” said Young Center Policy Director Jennifer Nagda. “We are grateful that the appellate court found it inappropriate to stay the lower court’s decision while the government pursues an appeal.” 

In March 2020, the administration issued an order under a public health rule that has been used to close the country’s borders to all children and adults seeking protection. DHS began arranging for the “expulsion” of thousands of children, rather than transferring them to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, where the children would have the chance to ask for protection and seek release to family members. As part of this process, DHS detained many of the children in hotel rooms, guarded by ICE contractors. For months, Young Center staff across the country have fought on behalf of children trapped in hotels, facing summary expulsion from our border without the chance to ask for help and tell their stories. We documented the experiences of our staff and these children in a declaration that was part of the court case that found hotel-based detention unlawful.  

“The decisions issued by Judge Dolly Gee confirmed that when it comes to our borders, it is the government that is breaking the law, not children. The pandemic doesn’t give the government a blank check to return children to traffickers, to persecutors, to abusers and it doesn’t excuse the government from its legal obligation to recognize children as children, to place them in the least restrictive setting in their best interests. That decision now takes effect thanks to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first. For press inquiries, please contact Noorjahan Akbar at media@theyoungcenter.org or 202-725-7184.