Migrant families with children have been detained at a border station in San Diego for weeks at a time, despite federal guidelines limiting such detentions to three days, prompting intervention from a federal judge.<\/p>\n
Over the past year, immigration authorities have held families and dozens of their children, ranging in age from infants to teenagers, at temporary holding facilities including at a Border Patrol station in Chula Vista and the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.<\/p>\n
In declarations to the court, migrants described \u201cfreezing\u201d cold cells with exposed toilets, little time outside and limited access to soap and toothpaste.<\/p>\n
One 35-year-old woman who crossed the border with her husband and four children said in a sworn declaration in March that her 5-month-old had only a diaper and thin shirt to stay warm. The guards later gave her a onesie for the infant, she said. The family was held for 28 days.<\/p>\n
A 37-year-old mother said in her own declaration in December that she and her 11- and 6-year-old children slept on thin mattresses on the floor and were not allowed to bathe.<\/p>\n
She said the guards gave the kids coloring pages and broken crayons to occupy themselves but did not let them go outside to play. One child made paper airplanes with the pages and played with a water bottle cap \u201cbecause that\u2019s all he has to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy children cry here,\u201d she said. \u201cThey feel like caged birds.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August, Dolly M. Gee, chief U.S. district judge in the Central District of California, appointed a \u201cspecial master\u201d and independent monitor to oversee facilities in San Diego, among other places, after finding that the length of time kids spent detained likely violated a 1997 legal agreement known as the Flores Settlement.<\/p>\n
Judge Gee also found that cold temperatures, limited access to soap and sanitizers and lights that remained on all night in San Diego facilities were persistent issues that required monitoring by the court.<\/p>\n
The Flores Settlement set standards for the detention, treatment and release of children in federal immigration custody and has allowed for judicial oversight in facilities where kids are held.<\/p>\n
It requires the federal government to transfer children out of immigration detention \u201cas expeditiously as possible\u201d when a significant number of them are in custody, and for the detention conditions to be \u201csafe and sanitary.\u201d<\/p>\n
In court, officials with Customs and Border Protection have blamed logistical challenges \u2014 including the availability of bedspace and arranging travel documents and deportation flights or transfers to detention centers \u2014 for the lengthy detention of kids.<\/p>\n
But attorneys representing migrant children said they result from a policy under the Trump administration to not release from custody any migrants who cross into the U.S. unlawfully, including those who may have legitimate fear of returning to their home countries.<\/p>\n
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson did not answer several questions sent via email on Tuesday and did not respond to a follow-up email on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The data on family detention<\/p>\n
Between February and April of this year, 50 kids in San Diego County spent more than three days detained by Customs and Border Protection, according to government data presented by attorneys for migrant children in court.<\/p>\n
Customs and Border Protection is the parent agency of Border Patrol, which operates seven border stations in San Diego, and the Office of Field Operations, which staffs ports of entry.<\/p>\n
Government standards in place for at least a decade say individuals \u201cshould generally not be held for longer than 72 hours\u201d in Customs and Border Protection facilities and that \u201cevery effort must be made to hold detainees for the least amount of time required for their processing, transfer, release, or repatriation as appropriate and as operationally feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet children in families are being held at Border Patrol holding facilities longer than three days even as agents have encountered fewer of them at U.S. borders.<\/p>\n
In May, Border Patrol had almost 330 encounters with children and family members across the entire southern border. That month, the average time they spent in custody was 105 hours, or more than four days.<\/p>\n
Six months earlier, in November, agents had more encounters \u2014 about 410 \u2014 but detained them for 64 hours on average, fewer than three days.<\/p>\n
Amid record migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2023, agents made more than 100,000 encounters with children and family members, and the average time in custody was only about 54 hours. That\u2019s almost half what it was this past May.<\/p>\n
Kids who crossed the border into the U.S. alone typically spent less time on average in holding facilities than kids traveling with families, according to the data although there have been cases along the border of kids traveling alone who spent extended time in border custody.<\/p>\n
Judge Gee\u2019s order will cover the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and Border Patrol stations in the San Diego Sector \u2014 including the Chula Vista station where most families have been held in San Diego \u2014 as well as facilities in other states along the border.<\/p>\n