A class of minor plaintiffs in immigration detention sought enforcement of the 1997 Flores agreement, which required that "after the government apprehends minors, it ordinarily must transfer them within three days to a 'licensed program,' which is defined as a 'program, agency or organization that is licensed by an appropriate State agency to provide residential, group, or foster care services for dependent children.'" In March 2020, the CDC's ordered (under 42 U.S.C. § 265) the suspension of introducing people from Mexico and Canada "who would otherwise be introduced into a congregate setting in a land Port of Entry or Border Patrol station" due to the COVID pandemic. During the following months, the government used hotels to house unaccompanied and accompanied minors (often for longer than 3 days), and it contended that "minors held under Title 42 'are in the legal custody of the CDC' because 'the source of legal authority for custody' is the CDC order, not the immigration statutes" so the Flores agreement did not necessarily apply. Thus, it filed an interlocutory appeal of the district court's order to comply with the Flores Agreement. The 9th Circuit referred to the common meaning of custody to conclude that "DHS both maintains physical control and exercises decision-making authority over the minors held in hotels under Title 42," so the Flores Agreement still applies and it denied the government's motion for stay pending appeal.
Crowdsourced legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration, organized, collected, and summarized for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. Created and managed by Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, and Zealous. Mostly federal court opinions, but now expanding to states and legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.
This resource is designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists, and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that Covid-19 poses to individuals who are detained.