(CNSNews.com) Citing a 1997 court settlement on housing illegal immigrant children in U.S. custody, a federal judge in California ruled on Friday that the illegal alien minors and their mothers who were caught crossing the border illegally and are in the Department of Homeland Securitys (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers should get prompt release.
The 25-page decision stated that the Obama administration shall make and record prompt and continuous efforts toward family reunification and the release of the minor.
In the ruling in the Jenny L. Flores v. Jeh Johnson case, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Federal District Court in California chastised the Obama administration for not having proper protocol in place for housing the roughly 1,700 women and children in ICE custody in two Texas detention centers, according to DHS, which provided the number to CNSNews.com.
The Court has considered in detail the evidence Defendants presented of the deterrent effect of the detention policy and finds the evidence distinctly lacking in scientific rigor, the ruling stated.It is astonishing that Defendants have enacted a policy requiring such expensive infrastructure without more evidence to show that it would be compliant with an Agreement that has been in effect for nearly 20 years or effective at achieving what Defendants hoped it would accomplish, the decision stated.
It is even more shocking that after nearly two decades Defendants have not implemented appropriate regulations to deal with this complicated area of immigration law, the ruling stated.
The 18-year-old class action lawsuit spelled out how children caught at the border were to be treated, but Gee ruled it also extends to those childrens mothers.
The judges decision stems from a lawsuit that was filed in February by attorneys Peter Schey and Carlos Holguin of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles.
I think this spells the beginning of the end for the Obama administrations immigrant family detention policy, Schey, president of the Center for Human Rights, is quoted as saying in a July 25 article on the decision in the New York Times. A policy that just targets mothers with children is not rational and its inhumane.
We are disappointed with the courts decision and are reviewing it in consultation with the Department of Justice, Marsha Catron, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said in the Times article.