Late Friday, Judge Dolly Gee extended the temporary restraining order requiring the Trump administration to comply with Flores. In response, Michelle Brané, senior director of migrant rights and justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission issued the following statement: 

“We applaud Judge Gee’s decision in the Flores case extending the temporary restraining order and holding the government accountable for the safety and lives of the immigrant children and families it’s detaining despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Transparency is necessary for accountability in any context, and the government’s poor track record of protecting the immigrant children and families it detains reinforces the necessity of the court’s ruling. 

“Given the overwhelming evidence that a family setting, not congregate care, is in the best interest of a child, the government must justify its reasons for keeping an immigrant child or family detained, especially when detention settings make complying with medical precautions to protect from COVID-19 impossible.”

 

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