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Immigration facilities win in proposed change to child detention policy

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Rachel Rhodes

The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security has proposed changes that would expand the government’s ability to hold minors in migrant detention centers.


Maria Cristina Garcia

Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies

Maria Cristina Garcia is a professor of History and Latino studies at Cornell University, and says that the predominant winners of a change in policy are the immigration detention centers.

Garcia says:

“Ever since the administration announced its ‘zero tolerance’ policy regarding border entries, immigrant advocates have expected the administration to find some way to get around the Flores Settlement agreement.

“The proposed policy allows for the indefinite detention of children, with or without their families, in inhumane conditions that have not been—and probably never will be-- addressed. The only winners in this policy are the detention facilities, many of them privately run, which must expand to accommodate the growing number of people who can now be detained indefinitely. Is it any wonder that immigration detention is a multibillion dollar industry?”

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