The massive, 350-page immigration bill proposed by Democrats this week does nothing to amend the Flores settlement agreement, a court ruling that mandates migrant families and children are released quickly, even as increasing numbers are encountered on the border.
The Flores settlement agreement originated from a lawsuit in the mid-1980s over the detention of an unaccompanied girl. A 1997 ruling in the case effectively prevented federal law enforcement from detaining migrant children for more than 20 days. In 2015, it was expanded to include families.
Flores was intended as a temporary measure, according to the Congressional Research Service, and was only to remain in effect until the government put forward regulations that the court would approve. While it was not expected to be addressed in the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 this week, its not being addressed means families encountered by Border Patrol will continue being released into the country.
“The Democrats’ bill is clearly and carefully designed for one purpose: to make America’s borders meaningless,” California Rep. Tom McClintock, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, told the Washington Examiner. “It does nothing to fix the loophole that requires release into the interior of illegal immigrant adults who bring with them a minor under age 18. Without effective borders, America ceases to be a nation and instead becomes a vast international territory between Canada and Mexico.”
“The Democrats’ new immigration bill follows the party’s trend of putting Americans last. This bill is flawed in more ways than I can count, so I’m not surprised to not see a Flores settlement fix included in it,” said Texas Rep. Brian Babin, House Border Security Caucus co-chairman. “This is something that I’m still deeply committed to fixing and hoped this administration would take seriously as another crisis on the southern border is impending.”
At present, Border Patrol agents are turning away nearly all migrants who trespass into the United States in an effort not to detain people at law enforcement facilities while the coronavirus pandemic continues. But now, agents working in the southern border’s busiest region, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, have been blocked by Mexico from returning families with children 12 years old and younger. Overwhelmed, law enforcement has begun to release families out of the backdoors of holding stations because judges are unable to hear cases in the 20 days that families and children are allowed to be held.
The settlement now threatens to present President Biden with a crisis, and yet the new immigration legislation from Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Rep. Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat, offers no solution to extend the time families can be held or other types of change.
“Any comprehensive immigration reform needs to include how we address minors, families, and repatriation once final orders of removal are issued,” said Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, the top GOP member on the House appropriations subcommittee on homeland security. “We need to work together to address all aspects of immigration, including how we deal with those who come here illegally.”
Federal officials on the border have complained for several years that Flores ties their hands, especially after 2019, when nearly half a million people traveled as part of families to the southern border from Central America and were taken into custody. Half were released into the U.S.
Ron Vitiello, a former senior Homeland Security official, said the agreement needs to be permanently solved by lawmakers in Congress, not the courts or executive branch.