CARECEN-LA Statement: No Child Should Be Criminalized for
Seeking Asylum

Los Angeles, CA – On Wednesday, the Trump administration
issued a series of regulations with the intent to roll back the Flores
settlement reached in 1997. After twelve years of litigation, the
government agreed on the humane treatment of children,
including protections that minimize the length of time a child
spends in ICE custody and ensures that the government does
everything possible to reunite children with their families.
In response, Martha Arevalo Issued the following statement:
“No child should be criminalized for seeking asylum. The
administration is gutting the few protections that we have fought
for over the years and is doing so by undermining the basic
premise that immigrants have rights and deserve access to
justice.

“CARECEN-LA has witnessed first hand the stories and testimony
of unaccompanied minors who have been assaulted by ICE
agents and held in camps and centers which have no distinction
from a dilapidated prison. Asylum seekers are held in freezing
cold or sweltering hot temperatures and denied water and basic
services.

“Deaths inside these immigrant prisons have risen. The numbers
are staggering and in many cases have gone unreported for
months. These kids come to the United States seeking refuge and
safety yet are met with incarceration, hate and racism.
“The Trump administration is not the first to attempt to undermine
or find a way around the Flores settlement. But the new
regulations pose a grave threat to the safety of thousands of
minors who are fleeing horrific violence and seek refuge. This
administration wants to detain children indefinitely. Not only is that
cruel, but barbaric and inhumane.

“CARECEN-LA will continue to fight for the rights of
unaccompanied minors and defend the right of refugees to seek
and obtain asylum. Much like Central American families who fled
violence in the 1980’s and resettled in the United States we must
push forward aggressively to ensure these children and families
have access to due process.”