Judge outlaws director review step in immigrant child cases

Source: Associated Press


Larry Neumeister, Associated Press
Updated 5:48 pm, Wednesday, June 27, 2018

NEW YORK (AP) — The government acted unlawfully by requiring unaccompanied immigrant children to remain detained until an agency's director personally approved their release, a process that delayed their freedom and caused suffering, a judge ruled Wednesday in ordering an end to the practice.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan said in a written ruling that a mid-2017 rule change by the newly appointed director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement that required the director's personal approval of release decisions was wrong.

He said he "cannot turn a blind eye" to suffering and irreparable injury caused by the policy.

Crotty also granted class-action status to the legal action brought by civil rights lawyers on behalf of one child.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Judge-outlaws-director-review-step-in-immigrant-13030978.php