This is a victory, in Flores, to be sure.
The ORR director has sworn under oath that the facility is empty and he will no longer send the kids or their parents to the generally deplorable Homestead unlicensed private facility (the one that was the subject of scathing reports by independent monitors, last month). Here's the just filed order, from the able Judge Gee -- and a bit:
. . . .The parties have filed a Stipulation stating that Defendants have provided Plaintiffs with a declaration executed under penalty of perjury by Jonathan H. Hayes, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (“ORR”), dated August 14, 2019 (“Hayes Dec.”).
According to the parties’ Stipulation, Mr. Hayes declares in part that: (1) as of July 3, 2019, ORR stopped placement of class members at Homestead, (2) as of the date of the declaration, no class members remained at Homestead and the facility was not accepting referrals, (3) ORR has increased resources to fund state-licensed facilities thereby reducing the need for class members to remain in influx facilities such as Homestead, (4) Homestead is currently operating with reduced staff for the purpose of allowing the possibility that Homestead could be quickly reopened in the event the number of class members referred to ORR increases significantly, and (5) ORR “does not expect to place [class members] at Homestead in the near term. . . [and] [b]arring a dramatic increase in [class members] referred to ORR and/or a decrease in licensed beds through unforeseen circumstances,” Defendants “do not expect ORR to place [class members] at Homestead in the coming weeks and possibly months. . . .”
So ends at least one of the most odious chapters -- in the US government's intentional, and internal human rights abuses -- of the 21st Century. Ever, onward.
नमस्ते
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