Biden administration seeks to change court oversight of child migrants traveling alone

The Biden administration will seek to partially end the way courts oversee how the federal government takes care of migrant children traveling alone, The Associated Press reported on Thursday.

The Department of Justice will ask to terminate the Flores agreement at the Health and Human Services Department, which takes care of unaccompanied minors within 72 hours of being apprehended by Border Patrol. The Biden administration said it has produced its own safeguards against mistreatment.

The agreement, which has stood for 27 years, would remain in effect at the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security. However, attorneys for unaccompanied children are set to oppose the decision, the outlet anticipated.

Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director at Children's Rights, which represents children in the case, said the decision could prevent attorneys from inspecting shelters and interviewing children. She told AP that they can file motions to force them to complying with standards when they realize that is not the case "and they don't like that."

Border Patrol facilities are routinely overcrowded as the amount of migrants reaching the U.S. continue to break records every month, despite a recent drop. Arrests of unaccompanied children topped 130,000 last year, and HHS releases most of them to close relatives while immigration judges determine their futures.

This could further complicate the Biden administration's relationship with immigrant advocates within his own party. The issue being an electoral liability according to numerous polls, the government is taking a tougher approach to immigration The government is also expected to publish an updated rule allowing it to reject asylum seekers more quickly, Axios reported on Wednesday.

The rule, the outlet said, would allow immigration officials to bar migrants from asylum within days, even hours, compared to the years it can take at the moment. The rule could target people considered national security risks.

Other rules under consideration are a sweeping presidential authority that allows him to "suspend the entry" of foreigners when it is determined that their arrival is not in the best interest of the country; and the ability to turn asylum seekers away if they cross illegally. Making it harder for asylum-seekers to pass the first interview to determine whether they can stay in the country is also under review.

In this context, a group of Democratic lawmakers urged the Biden administration to "promptly take actions to provide protections and relief for long-term undocumented individuals." They also urged Biden to open legal pathways toward citizenship before the November elections.

In a letter, 80 lawmakers said that "deporting all those people, like former president Donald Trump has threatened to- would cripple the economy and destroy families in the country." Hispanic Caucus chairwoman Nanette Barragán said that Biden "should seize this critical time by making use of executive action to rebuild the broken immigration system."

"We urge him to provide paths to citizenship and protection for the millions of long-term undocumented residents who have contributed to the U.S.'s rich tapestry."