US refugee office sued over detention of immigrant children

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A US office dealing with refugees is being sued for keeping children who entered the country illegally in custody for months, as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The New York Civil Liberties Union announced Tuesday it had filed a class action lawsuit against the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) for “trapping immigrant children in prolonged detention.”

“Though the agency is obligated to promptly reunify children with their families, the release of children who have been held in restrictive detention has nearly ground to a halt under a new policy that requires sign-off by the ORR director, a Trump administration appointee,” the NYCLU said in a statement.

Under federal law, children who entered the country illegally but have relatives or other adults in the United States who are qualified to take care of them are supposed to be released from custody while their immigration cases are adjudicated.

The lead plaintiff in the NYCLU case is a 17-year-old boy identified as LVM, who came to the US from El Salvador in 2016 with his mother and brother. The family applied for asylum and is still awaiting a ruling, according to the NYCLU.

LVM was however taken from his home in July over his alleged links to a gang, which the NYCLU said were false. Seven months on, he remains in ORR custody, although an immigration judge and a local ORR supervisor have said he poses no threat, the NYCLU said.

According to the group, LVM’s prolonged detention is the result of a new policy introduced last year, requiring ORR head Scott Lloyd, a Trump appointee, to personally sign off on decisions to reunite children in custody with their families.

So far, Lloyd has approved only a “handful” of releases, the NYCLU said. Before the policy change, children would wait in ORR custody only one to three months.

“In a sharp break from the laws and policies intended to protect these vulnerable children, the Trump administration has vilified and targeted them,” the lawsuit said.

President Donald Trump has made curbing immigration and deporting immigrants living in the US illegally a centerpiece of his agenda.

(With input from Reuters)

(Cover Photo: DACA recipients and their supporters in Los Angeles, California on January 30, 2018, during US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. /VCG Photo)