Congressman Dan Goldman Urges Biden Administration to Maintain Commitment to Not Pursue Trump-Era Family Detention Policy

Family Detention Causes Severe Adverse Long-Term Mental Health Impacts on Children

Legal Pathways and Alternatives to Detention Support Families Fleeing Violence, Reduce Border Crossings, and Improve our Immigration Syst

Read the Letter Here

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today demanded that President Biden maintain his commitment to not pursue the cruel and inhumane practice of detaining immigrant families and children, and instead continue expanding legal pathways and invest in community-based alternatives to detention. Pediatric psychologists remain consistent in their assurance that no amount of time in detention is safe for children.

“The Trump-era policy of family detention is cruel, inhumane, and antiquated and it does nothing to fix our broken immigration system,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “The Biden Administration has made incredible headway towards repairing our immigration system through new legal pathways for migrants and community-based alternatives to detention and we cannot go backward on that progress. As a country, we should be welcoming displaced immigrants with open arms while working to address the root causes of migrant displacement. I am proud to join my colleagues in urging President Biden to reverse course on our failed policies of the past.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics is in agreement that there is no safe way to detain families and children. According to a physician and psychiatrist who investigated family detention facilities for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, shorter lengths of detention do not mitigate harmful consequences to children, including those detained with their families for less than 20 days.

The Biden Administration’s work to expand legal pathways successfully reduced crossings between ports of entry for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans by 98 percent. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Case Management Pilot Program, which provides individuals and families with assistance to comply with their immigration obligations, produced a 99 percent compliance rate.

The Case Management Pilot Program is the successor to the successful Family Case Management Program which saved taxpayers nearly $300 per day per family by keeping migrants out of detention facilities.

The evidence remains clear that family detention is ineffective and excessively costly when compared to the expansion of legal pathways for migrants.

A copy of the letter can be viewed here and below.

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The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

We write to express serious concerns about reports that the Administration is considering restarting the detention of families. Shortly after you took office, you rightfully committed to end the practice of detaining families and children, with the last family detention facility closing in December of 2021. We urge you to maintain your commitment to not detaining families and children, to not return to a cruel policy of the past. We applaud your work to expand legal pathways through designating and re-designating countries for Temporary Protected Status and expanding humanitarian parole. We urge you to continue expanding legal pathways and rapidly investing in community-based alternatives to detention, in particular the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Case Management Pilot Program, which provides individuals and families with assistance to comply with their immigration obligations.

The harm of detaining children is clear: According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “there is no evidence that any amount of time in detention is ‘safe’ for children. In fact, even short periods of detention can cause psychological trauma and long-term mental health risks for children.”[2] According to a physician and psychiatrist who investigated family detention facilities for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, “shorter lengths of detention did not sufficiently mitigate the harmful conditions that we observed and their deleterious consequences; most of the harms we documented were in families detained less than 20 days.”[3] In addition incarceration hinders normal child development, disrupts family roles and dynamics, undermines a parent’s authority and ability to address their children’s needs.[4]  When children witness their parents being treated poorly by detention staff or sense their helplessness in detention, it undermines a child’s sense that their parent is an authority figure who can provide security and protection.

We have seen how legal pathways can work.  There are over 18 million people in the Western Hemisphere who are displaced.[5] Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are among the top sending countries to the United States. Individuals are fleeing rampant violence, persecution, corruption, climate change, and economic crises. However, when the Biden Administration created new legal pathways for nationals of Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, crossings between ports of entry for national of those countries fell 98 percent.[6] This was a good first step by the Administration, but more can be done.

Further, case management has a proven record of ensuring compliance with immigration obligations while allowing individuals to remain in communities. CMPP is the successor to the successful Family Case Management Program (FCMP), which used case managers to ensure families comply with immigration obligations while allowing families to remain in communities. The program produced a 99 percent compliance rate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and immigration court requirements.[7] Moreover, FCMP cost only $36 per day per family compared to family detention, which cost $319 per person per day.[8] The FCMP demonstrated that when individuals are provided with clear assistance to navigate the immigration system, they follow through on their obligations. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration terminated FCMP; however, CMPP received $20 million for its establishment in the FY23 appropriations bill. Standing up this program and investing in its success is crucial to ensure humane and efficient processing of arriving asylum seekers.

We urge you to consider these important and proven alternatives to detention and reject resurrecting family detention. We look forward to working with you.

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