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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2018)
2B ܂ WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2018 ܂ APPEAL TRIBUNE Salem professor to meet separated kids Natalie Pate Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Few people have ac- cess to the immigrant children detained at the southern U.S. border. Wendi Warren Bin- ford, a Willamette Uni- versity law professor from Salem, is one of them — part of a team of volunteers allowed into the detentions centers under the Flores Settle- ment, which was adopted by the federal govern- ment in the late 1990s. They're the only ones currently allowed to in- terview the children. As such, the Flores team lead by Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law Foundation, scheduled two days — July 12 and 13 — to interview and evalu- ate the children at a de- tention center in Texas. With so little time, Bin- ford rushed to find help. She put out one email and one Facebook post last month. Within days, more than 7,000 respons- es flooded her inbox. She heard from fire- fighters, lawyers, doctors, grandmothers, law en- forcement officers, for- eign diplomats and more. Some were willing to head to Texas. Others we- ren't in that position, but offered to send money, in- stead. As of Friday, more than $77,000 had been raised via a GoFundMe page to offset travel costs for more than 6,000 volun- teers. Between them, they speak more than 30 languages and offer a va- riety of expertise. Binford — whose law career has focused on children's rights — also took two Willamette Uni- versity volunteers with her when she traveled to the border at the end of June. More than 100 local residents have offered to help. "It's so inspiring to know so many people care," she said. All this began in April when U.S. Attorney Gen- eral Jeff Sessions ordered prosecutors along the U.S. and Mexican border to adopt a "zero-tolerance policy" for illegal border crossings. Yeni Maricela Gonzalez Garcia stops to meet with supporters in New York City on July 2. She is here to see her three children for the first time since they were taken from an Arizona immigration facility six weeks ago. PETER CARR/THE JOURNAL NEWS Wendi Warren Binford is a professor at Willamette University College of Law in Salem and the director of the school's clinical law program. Binford will be one of the few allowed to interview separated children at the Flores Settlement. ANNA REED/STATESMAN JOURNAL PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY This includes taking action against parents traveling with their chil- dren and people attempt- PUBLIC NOTICES POLICY Public Notices are published by the Statesman Journal and available online at w w w .S ta te s m a n J o u r n a l.c o m . The Statesman Journal lobby is open Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can reach them by phone at 503-399-6789. In order to receive a quote for a public notice you must e-mail your copy to SJLegals@StatesmanJournal.com , and our Legal Clerk will return a proposal with cost, publication date(s), and a preview of the ad. LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICE DEADLINES All Legals Deadline @ 1:00 p.m. on all days listed below: ***All Deadlines are subject to change when there is a Holiday. The Silverton Appeal Tribune is a one day a week (Wednesday) only publication • Wednesday publication deadlines the Wednesday prior LEGAL/PUBLIC NOTICE RATES Silverton Appeal Tribune: • Wednesdays only - $12.15/per inch/per time • Online Fee - $21.00 per time • Affidavit Fee - $10.00 per Affidavit requested ing to request asylum. According to the De- partment of Homeland Security, more than 2,300 children have been sepa- rated from their parents since early May, with some estimates reaching closer to 3,000. Since then, the family separations have sparked protests across the na- tion, including a march June 30 at the Oregon State Capitol and a rally outside the Sheridan Fed- eral Correctional Institu- tion on June 18. And on Friday, the Trump administration asked for more time to re- unite more than 100 chil- dren under 5 years old who were separated from LOW COST CREMATION & BURIAL Simple Cremation $595 NO Hidden Costs TUALATIN SALEM 8970 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd 412 Lancaster Drive NE (503) 885-7800 (503) 581-6265 TIGARD PORTLAND 12995 SW Pacifi c Hwy 832 NE Broadway (503) 783-6869 (503) 783-3393 MILWAUKIE EASTSIDE 17064 SE McLoughlin Blvd 1433 SE 122nd Ave (503) 653-7076 (503) 783-6865 Privately owned cremation facility. A Family Owned Oregon Business. OR-SAL0008503-01 City Councilor Tom Andersen carries a sign during a Families Belong Together Rally, part of a nationwide series of protests against the separation of parents and children at U.S. borders, at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on June 30. www.ANewTradition.com their parents after cross- ing the border. The judge delayed rul- ing on the request until July 2. As it stands, the deadline to reunite fam- ilies is July 10 for parents with children under 5 and July 26 for everyone else. However, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw or- dered the Justice Depart- ment to share a list of the children by Saturday af- ternoon with the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union. A decades-old battle The struggle to uphold the rights of children and asylum seekers is a dec- ades-old fight. In the 1980s, child ad- vocates brought a nation- al class-action lawsuit against what is now known as the U.S. Immi- gration and Customs En- forcement (ICE) agency, arguing the country was violating the rights of children in detention. The litigation dragged on for years before it reached a settlement agreement in the '90s. The agreement be- came known as the "Flo- res Settlement" after the case of Jenny Lisette Flo- res, a 15-year-old from El Salvador, who fled her home country to find an aunt in the United States. She was detained by federal authorities at the U.S. border and her case was filed in 1985 by the Center for Human Rights. The settlement deter- mined children must be kept with their parents. If they are separated, they must be united as quickly as possible, Binford ex- plained. If that is not possible, the children must be placed with a relative in the United States or an adult authorized by the child's parents. Immigration officials have to first exhaust these placement options. The settlement also outlined the conditions in which the children had to be kept, from access to toilets and blankets to the temperature of the room. The settlement also determined that a team of designated lawyers would regularly monitor the sites to make sure the Flores Settlement was honored. Since then, Schey of the Center for Human Rights, has filed multiple motions claiming the U.S. government wasn't doing what it agreed to. Fighting for access Flash forward to 2018 when the zero-tolerance policy was announced. "All of the sudden, the government was not tell- ing (us) where the chil- dren were taken," Binford said. But the settlement put Schey and the Flores vol- unteers in a unique posi- tion, ultimately making them the only people able to talk with the children. Schey requested time to interview the children, referred to as "class mem- bers." That's when the July 12-13 interview dates were scheduled. The Flores group will be working at the Casa Padre center in Browns- ville, Texas, the same center where U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, was refused admittance last month. “Family internment camps in the desert, in which children are trau- matized alongside their parents, are not accept- able in America," Merkley said in a press release. "And it’s imperative that the administration re- unites (these children) with their families as swiftly as possible." Merkley recently au- thored the Congressional Access to Children’s De- tention Facilities Act, co- sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon. The act would require members of Congress be allowed to tour locations that house immigrant children within 24 hours of making a request. At Casa Padre, the Flo- res team will assess whether the detention center is in compliance with the settlement. They will interview the children to determine their names, ages, where they are from, where their family may be and when were they separated. This information can then be used to prepare case dec- larations. Partnering groups, in- cluding Human Rights Watch, are proving train- ing, supplies and other services. Flores leaders have gone to nearly 15 deten- tion centers already and are hoping to schedule visits in the coming weeks to dozens of sites across the country where they believe children are being held. For more information, go to www.face- book.com/center4hu- manrights/. Contact Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJour- nal.com, 503-399-6745 or follow her on Twitter @Nataliempate or on Facebook at www.Face- book.com/nataliepate- journalist.