• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

UN Rights Chief Slams US Move to Detain Migrant Children Indefinitely

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
09/04/19
in National
migrants at a US detention center

A US migrant detention center in McAllen, Texas on June 10, 2019. Photo: US Office of the Inspector General

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The U.S. government’s recent decision to remove legal limits on how long migrant children can be detained clearly flouts international law, the U.N. rights chief said Wednesday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet voiced concern over the move by the administration of President Donald Trump last month to allow migrant children and their families to be detained for unlimited periods.

She pointed to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that children can be detained only “as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”

“If they are going to make it indefinite, that is much worse,” she told reporters in Geneva.

“It’s against all the legal conventions and international human rights law and the laws for the child.”

Her comments came after the Department of Homeland Security on August 22 announced that it was terminating the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, a legal ruling that said the government could hold migrant children in detention for no more than 20 days.

The Trump admin could detain children indefinitely thanks to a new rule ending the Flores Settlement Agreement. pic.twitter.com/IhnoNf0EF2

— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 2, 2019

The White House said the Flores rule was outdated and did not take into account the massive increase in Central American migrant families and children crossing into the United States in recent years.

A new policy, which was scheduled to be implemented within weeks but which has already met numerous legal challenges, will allow indefinite detention of migrant children.

Trump made cracking down on immigration a key part of his 2016 presidential campaign platform.

In 2018, he launched a “zero tolerance” policy under which more than 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the border, before the government backed down amid a massive public outcry.

But Bachelet voiced concern Wednesday at information that hundreds of children had been separated from their families since the “zero tolerance” policy ended.

“We do believe that the arbitrary separation of families constitutes an arbitrary and unlawful interference with family life and a grave violation of the rights of child,” she said.

The U.N. rights chief also took issue with the Trump administration’s new “public charge” rule aimed at denying permanent residency and citizenship to immigrants who claim welfare benefits.

“This new measure raises for us several concerns … including that legally resident migrants would withdraw from necessary public assistance programs, including medical, housing and food programs because they would fear losing their documents,” she said.


More on the Subject 

UN Warns US, UK, France of Complicity in Yemen War Crimes

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Mar-A-Lago raid
National

FBI Raid on Trump’s Home Ignites Political Firestorm

by Staff Writer
August 9, 2022
US President Donald Trump
Opinion

Owning the Words and the Libs

by Stephen J. Lyons
June 16, 2022
US Capitol riot
National

Trump ‘More Likely Than Not’ Obstructed Congress: US Judge

by Staff Writer
March 28, 2022
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021
Opinion

How Praise and Blame Rhetoric Are Poisoning American Democracy

by Ryan Skinnell
November 2, 2021
Pro-abortion rights activists rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin against SB8, September 11.
Featured

The Horrors of a Repressive Regime, American Style

by Stephen J. Lyons
October 26, 2021
US President Donald Trump
Featured

Trump Observes the Anniversary of the 9/11 Tragedy in the Brothel of Sports

by Edward C. Halperin
October 26, 2021
Next Post
People demonstrate in Washington, DC, on June 28, 2018, demanding an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents.

Trump’s Plan to Indefinitely Detain Families Seeking Asylum is No Solution

Stock market crash, OCtober 2018.

Why is the US Economy so Prone to Crashes? An Interview With Economist Richard Wolff

Recommended

Mar-A-Lago raid

FBI Raid on Trump’s Home Ignites Political Firestorm

August 9, 2022
Ukraine nuclear plant

Ukraine Calls for De-Militarization of Occupied Nuclear Plant

August 8, 2022
Toru Kubota

Myanmar Junta Charges Japanese Journalist With Encouraging Dissent

August 4, 2022
Nancy Pelosi

Taiwan Defiant as China Readies Military Drills Over Pelosi Visit

August 3, 2022
Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022
Antonio Guterres

UN Chief Warns Humanity ‘One Miscalculation Away From Nuclear Annihilation’

August 1, 2022

Opinion

Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post