Merkley, Wyden Urge President Biden Not to Reinstate the Use of Family Detention for Migrant Children
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined colleagues in a letter to President Biden raising concerns over reports that the Administration is considering a return to the inhumane and ineffective practice of detaining migrant families, after previously ending family detention in December 2021.
“Under both the Obama and Trump Administrations, family detention had disastrous effects on migrant families and children, without any corresponding improvement in border security or deterrence,” wrote the Senators. “We urge you to learn from the mistakes of your predecessors and abandon any plans to implement this failed policy.”
In the letter, the Senators reference the American Academy of Pediatrics and their findings that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facilities for detaining families did “not meet the basic standards for the care of children in residential settings.” They additionally point to the American Medical Association’s longstanding opposition to “family immigration detention, separation of children from their parents in detention, and any plans to expand these detention centers because of the negative health consequences that detention has on both children and their parents.” Furthermore, two of DHS’ own medical consultants concluded—after a series of ten investigations during both the Obama and Trump Administrations—that DHS family detention centers posed a “high risk of harm to children and their families.”
“We understand that your Administration faces significant challenges—particularly in light of Congressional failure to pass immigration reform—to manage an influx of asylum seekers arriving at our southern border,” the Senators continued. “However, the recent past has taught us that family detention is both morally reprehensible and ineffective as an immigration management tool. We look forward to working closely with your Administration on more thoughtful and humane responses to such challenges.”
In the letter, the Senators cite that family detention does not appear to have deterred desperate families from attempting to come to the United States—instead, the implementation of this policy corresponded with an increase in unique encounters of children and individuals in families “by an average of 57 percent per year between 2015 and 2019.”
The Senators also offered alternatives such as case management programs, which have proven far more humane and cost-effective. Congress recently appropriated $20 million dollars to DHS to implement alternatives to detention to ensure that families, children, and other individuals seeking asylum comply with the law, without harming children and families.
Senator Merkley has been a longtime advocate for the safe and humane care of migrant children at our borders. In 2022, with the support of Senator Wyden, Merkley introduced his Children’s Safe Welcome Act, bicameral legislation that would embed child welfare best practices into every stage of America’s immigration system involving unaccompanied and accompanied noncitizen children who seek asylum in the U.S.
The letter is led by Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL), and in addition to Merkley and Wyden, the letter is signed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Tina Smith (D-MN).
Full text of the letter can be found here and follows below:
Dear Mr. President:
We are concerned by reports that your Administration is considering a return to the ineffective and inhumane practice of detaining migrant families. Your Administration was right to put an end to family detention in December 2021. Under both the Obama and Trump Administrations, family detention had disastrous effects on migrant families and children, without any corresponding improvement in border security or deterrence. We urge you to learn from the mistakes of your predecessors and abandon any plans to implement this failed policy.
The Obama Administration restarted the practice of detaining families in 2014, and the Trump Administration continued this policy. We have therefore had ample opportunity to observe the devastating impacts of family detention on the well-being of children. The American Academy of Pediatrics found that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facilities for detaining families did “not meet the basic standards for the care of children in residential settings.” The American Medical Association has long opposed “family immigration detention, separation of children from their parents in detention, and any plans to expand these detention centers” because of “the negative health consequences that detention has on both children and their parents.” Additionally, two of DHS’s own medical consultants concluded—after a series of ten investigations during both the Obama and Trump Administrations—that DHS family detention centers posed “a high risk of harm to children and their families.”
We have also learned that detaining families is ineffective and impractical as an immigration management tool. Family detention does not appear to have deterred desperate families from attempting to come to the United States—instead, the implementation of this policy corresponded with an increase in unique encounters of children and individuals in families “by an average of 57 percent per year between 2015 and 2019.” DHS spent more than $866 million over a three-year period to maintain space to detain just over 3,000 family units per year.
For those who do not pose a threat to our communities or flight risk, alternatives to detention have proven far more humane and cost-effective than detention. For example, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Family Case Management Program had 100 percent attendance at court proceedings for enrollees, and an estimated cost of approximately $36 per person per day, versus approximately $319 per day for an ICE family detention bed. Congress recently appropriated $20 million dollars to DHS to implement such case management programs. These programs ensure that families, children, and other individuals seeking asylum comply with the law, without harming children and families.
We understand that your Administration faces significant challenges—particularly in light of Congressional failure to pass immigration reform—to manage an influx of asylum seekers arriving at our southern border. However, the recent past has taught us that family detention is both morally reprehensible and ineffective as an immigration management tool. We look forward to working closely with your Administration on more thoughtful and humane responses to such challenges.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
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