Congress caved on ICE funding, but can still act to protect detained children
Key takeaways
- Earlier this month, Congress approved $38 billion in new funds to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement through the remainder of the current administration.
- Collectively, our organizations represent children protected under the Flores Settlement Agreement, the decades-old framework that set basic standards for the treatment of children detained in immigration custody.
- We are some of the only people in the country who are allowed inside these facilities to speak with the children detained there.
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
Earlier this month, Congress approved $38 billion in new funds to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement through the remainder of the current administration. This is in addition to the $75 billion allocated to ICE in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Part of this additional funding will be used to detain families in federal immigration facilities — places where children are routinely subjected to dangerous and inhumane conditions.
Collectively, our organizations represent children protected under the Flores Settlement Agreement, the decades-old framework that set basic standards for the treatment of children detained in immigration custody. At its core, Flores requires that children are held in safe and sanitary conditions and released without unnecessary delay.
We are some of the only people in the country who are allowed inside these facilities to speak with the children detained there. Children courageously tell us what they endure in federal custody. Over the past year, since the Trump administration reopened the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, those stories have been heart-wrenching and terrifying.