Border Patrol must care for migrant children who wait in camps for processing, a judge says

Apr 05, 20240

Andres Leighton, Associated Press count

FILE - Two migrants, part of a small group, are seeing through the mesh of the border fence as they camp outside a gate in El Paso, Texas, Friday, May 12, 2023. Migrant children in makeshift camps along the U.S.-Mexico border who are waiting to be processed by Border Patrol are in the agency's custody _ something the agency had denied _ and said the Department of Homeland Security must quickly process them and place them in facilities that are "safe and sanitary."(AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

WASHINGTON - Migrant children who wait in makeshift camps along the U.S.-Mexico border for the Border Patrol to process them are in the agency's custody and are subject to a long-standing court-supervised agreement that set standards for their treatment, a judge ruled.

The issue of when the children are officially in Border Patrol custody is particularly important because of the 1997 court settlement on how migrant children in U.S. government custody must be treated. Those standards include a time limit on how long the children can be held and services such as toilets, sinks and temperature controls.

Wednesday's ruling means the Department of Homeland Security must quickly process the children and place them in facilities that are ''safe and sanitary.''

https://www.startribune.com/border-patrol-must-care-for-migrant-children-who-wait-in-camps-for-processing-a-judge-says/600356353/