A federal judge on Friday blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from continuing to house migrant children in hotel rooms, saying the coronavirus pandemic does not justify the practice.
Judge Dolly Gee ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must relocate the children to licensed facilities by September 15, according to CNN. The ruling does allow hotel housing while DHS is transporting children to its various facilities, however. (RELATED: ICE Releases List Of Murderers And Rapists Protected Under Sanctuary City Policies)
“This Court…recognizes that the pandemic may require temporary, emergency modifications to the immigration system to enhance public safety,” Gee said. “But that is no excuse for DHS to skirt the fundamental humanitarian protections that the Flores Agreement guarantees for minors in their custody, especially when there is no persuasive evidence that hoteling is safer than licensed facilities.”
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seal is seen before a press conference discussing ongoing enforcement efforts to combat human smuggling along the Southwest border of the United States, July 22, 2014 at ICE headquarters in Washington, DC. AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards (Photo by Paul J. RICHARDS / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
In July, a number of hotel chains released statements saying they were unwilling to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house migrants amid the pandemic. The hotels included Marriott, Hilton, Choice Hotels, Best Western, Wyndham, Hyatt, IHG and MGM Resorts. United Airlines, American Airlines, and Greyhound busses have also declined to work with ICE in the past.
ICE has argued that it uses hotels as a means to keep migrant families as close as possible amid the pandemic, before they are deported or sent to longer term detention centers.
“If hotels or other places do not want to allow us to utilize that, they’re almost forcing us into a situation where we’re going to have to take one of the parents and put them in custody and separate them from the rest of their families,” Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence told the Associated Press.