• Press Release

Proposed Changes to Limits on Family Detention Would Inflict Further Harm on Children Fleeing Persecution

September 6, 2018

According to reports, the Trump administration is preparing to publish regulations that would effectively terminate the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which mandates that children cannot be held in immigration detention for more than 20 days.

Ashley Houghton, tactical campaigns manager at Amnesty International USA, issued this statement in response:

“This is an attack on families trying to rebuild their lives. It is already extraordinarily cruel to lock up families fleeing violence and persecution—why attempt to change the law to keep them there as long as possible?

“These proposed regulations would only inflict further harm on children who have likely already endured significant persecution, trauma, and extreme distress. The Flores Agreement must be allowed to stand to protect vulnerable families.”