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US sued over expulsion of migrant children detained in hotel
Source: Associated Press
US sued over expulsion of migrant children detained in hotel
By NOMAAN MERCHANT
July 24, 2020
HOUSTON (AP) — Legal groups sued the U.S. government Friday in an attempt to prevent the rapid expulsion of children that the Trump administration detained in hotel rooms under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus.
The groups sought a temporary restraining order on behalf of “unnamed children” held at the Hampton Inn & Suites in the Texas border city of McAllen. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the McAllen hotel is one of three Hampton Inns that the government has used nearly 200 times to detain children so it can rapidly deport them to their countries of origin without giving them the chance to seek refuge in the U.S.
It’s unclear where children held in the hotel now are. Late Friday, the company that operates the McAllen hotel said it had canceled all business relating to the detention of children. Hilton, which owns the Hampton Inn brand, said it was informing all of its franchise owners that company policy “has always been that hotels should not be used as detention centers or for detaining individuals.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that the private contractor it hired, MVM Inc., is no longer holding children at the McAllen hotel. But it did not respond to several questions about where it had taken the children instead.
“The Trump administration is holding children in secret in hotels, refusing to give lawyers access to them so it can expel them back to danger without even a chance for the children to show they warrant asylum,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit on behalf of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
-snip-
By NOMAAN MERCHANT
July 24, 2020
HOUSTON (AP) — Legal groups sued the U.S. government Friday in an attempt to prevent the rapid expulsion of children that the Trump administration detained in hotel rooms under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus.
The groups sought a temporary restraining order on behalf of “unnamed children” held at the Hampton Inn & Suites in the Texas border city of McAllen. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the McAllen hotel is one of three Hampton Inns that the government has used nearly 200 times to detain children so it can rapidly deport them to their countries of origin without giving them the chance to seek refuge in the U.S.
It’s unclear where children held in the hotel now are. Late Friday, the company that operates the McAllen hotel said it had canceled all business relating to the detention of children. Hilton, which owns the Hampton Inn brand, said it was informing all of its franchise owners that company policy “has always been that hotels should not be used as detention centers or for detaining individuals.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that the private contractor it hired, MVM Inc., is no longer holding children at the McAllen hotel. But it did not respond to several questions about where it had taken the children instead.
“The Trump administration is holding children in secret in hotels, refusing to give lawyers access to them so it can expel them back to danger without even a chance for the children to show they warrant asylum,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit on behalf of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/10e1f2c57b819209c3574a3b6460a038