For Immediate Release

Los Angeles, California — On Wednesday, Jan. 21, co-counsel teams from the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Children’s Rights, and National Center for Youth Law filed an opposition brief in the Ninth Circuit urging the Court to deny the government’s appeal of the district court’s denial of their motion to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a foundational legal safeguard that requires the federal government to treat children in immigration custody humanely, hold them in the least restrictive settings, prioritize release to family, and provide basic necessities such as clean water, food, medical care, and safe, sanitary living conditions.

Ending Flores would strip away basic safeguards for children at a time when the federal government continues to incarcerate nearly a thousand children on any given day. Such a result is legally unjustifiable, factually unsupported, and would remove critical protections for children while ongoing violations and systemic problems remain. 

This appeal is the government’s latest attempt to recycle previously rejected arguments. Meanwhile, they have offered no long-lasting solution to their failure to meet the Settlement’s requirements. The government cannot end the Flores settlement based on empty promises and isolated internal policy changes. Justice for children requires evidence that the government has achieved long-term, systemwide compliance and that the abuses Flores was designed to stop will not return once court oversight ends.

“The government’s briefs are clear about why they want to terminate the Flores Settlement — they want to be permitted to detain children with their families in dangerous and traumatizing immigration prisons for as long as they choose to. Losing Flores would mean allowing the government to imprison children and throw away the keys,” said Sarah Kahn, Senior Attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law.

Imprisoned immigrant children continue to experience profoundly inhumane treatment. Some children have been held in extremely cold, windowless prisons for days or weeks without access to the outdoors. Children have suffered from the harsh experience of being in restrictive settings, with the cruel glare of lights that never turn off, and little to no opportunity for play or education.  The government has failed to provide adequate access to soap, basic hygiene items, and clean clothing, which violates constitutional minimums.

“At a time when the government seeks free rein to rip children from our communities and detain them indefinitely in prison-like settings, there could not be more at stake than this latest attempt to end Flores. Even with the Flores settlement in place, children in immigration detention are suffering immensely due to the government’s persistent violations. Flores requires nothing more than the humane treatment of children, yet even that appears to be too high a bar for the government to uphold. ” said Leecia Welch, Chief Legal Counsel at Children’s Rights.

Flores provides critical accountability by giving the court the ability to intervene when children are being detained for unacceptable periods of time in unsafe conditions. Terminating the settlement would remove those safeguards and invite a return to the very conditions that led the court to step in decades ago. These ongoing harms show exactly why Flores remains essential.

“It is unconscionable that the government wants courts to bless keeping vulnerable children in windowless rooms, in frigid conditions, and without adequate food or water. Flores doesn’t permit such acts, the Constitution doesn’t allow this kind of cruelty towards children, and the Ninth Circuit should say so plainly,”said Mishan Wroe, Directing Attorney at NCYL.

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The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law is a legal non-profit committed to protecting and advancing the rights of immigrants through legal action, advocacy, and education. Through impact litigation, we challenge unlawful immigration policies to drive systemic change and establish stronger legal protections for immigrants. At the local, state, and federal levels, we advocate for fair and humane policies that uphold the rights of all immigrants. For more information, please visit centerforhumanrights.org.

The National Center for Youth Law centers youth through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transforms our nation’s approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every child thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves.

Children’s Rights is a national advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of children living in or impacted by America’s child welfare, juvenile legal, immigration, education, and healthcare systems. We use civil rights impact litigation, advocacy and policy expertise, and public education to hold governments accountable for keeping kids safe and healthy. Our work centers on creating lasting systemic change that will advance the rights of children for generations. For more information, please visit childrensrights.org.