NEW YORK CITY - A Federal District Court judge ruled on Wednesday night that the federal government is required to "expeditiously" house migrant children who cross into the United States unlawfully, rather than their current situation, in unsafe open-air sites along the border.
The ruling comes as immigrants' rights discourse takes center stage in the national conversation amid concerns for migrant children's health, according to The New York Times.
In February, for instance, CNN reported the case of a young girl from Colombia hiding in a porta potty to shield herself from the biting wind and cold as she and her parents waited at a makeshift camp along the southern border.
When the little girl and her family reached the U.S., Border Patrol agents directed them to a temporary camp to wait until making asylum claims. They did not get any shelter beside the excrement-filled latrine, according to sworn declarations filed in federal court and interviews with volunteers who were there.
As temperatures dropped, the girl began convulsing. Her father wrapped her in a blanket he found in the mud and called 911, he stated in a declaration. Eventually, an ambulance arrived and transported the pale and listless girl to a hospital with her mother. The father said agents warned him he would lose his chance at asylum if he left the camp to join his family.
The recently decided court case specifically focused on seven sites near San Diego and Jacumba Hot Springs, a remote area of Southern California. There, migrants wait for hours or days before Border Patrol agents transfer them to brick-and-mortar detention facilities to formally process them.
Judge Dolly M. Gee of the United States District Court of Central California was the one to give the verdict. She sided mostly with the lawyers representing the children in a class-action lawsuit.
It established that minors at the sites were in legal custody of the Department of Homeland Security and thus were entitled to certain rights and protections, such as a safe and sanitary environment, even if they had not yet been formally processed, The New York Times reported.
"The ability to exercise discretion over, and make decisions affecting, a child's health and welfare is indicative of maintaining legal custody of the child, regardless of whether that decision is to provide or withhold care," the 12-page order read. "Juveniles, unlike adults, are always in some form of custody."
The judge also denied the lawyers' request for a specific time limit for how long minors could be held at the sites, but said the Department of Homeland Security needed to process all children "expeditiously" and place them in facilities that are safe, sanitary and "consistent with D.H.S.'s concern for the particular vulnerability of minors."
The outdoor areas, just like the ones the Colombian family were located in during February, most often than not lack shelter, food and sanitation. These conditions have given way to an array of public health concerns for the most vulnerable.
These conditions were also highlighted in the judge's decision. Citing declarations from advocates who visited the open-air sites, Gee said migrant children often don't receive food, beyond crackers. Some of the sites have lacked a sufficient number of dumpsters and portable toilets, and the one they do have are "overflowing" and "unusable," Gee said.
"This means that [the open-air sites] not only have a foul smell, but also that trash is strewn about the [sites], and Class Members are forced to relieve themselves outdoors," Gee wrote in her ruling.
Representatives for U.S. Customs and Border protection, which oversees Border Patrol agents, did not immediately comment on Wednesday's ruling. But migrant advocates are applauding judge Gee's decision.
"For over a year, the government has left children suffering in dangerous and inhumane conditions at Open Air Detention Sites (OADS), insisting that these children are not their responsibility," said Neha Desai, an attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. "Thanks to the court's clear and consequential decision, the government can no longer pretend that children in OADS are not in government custody."
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