Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current, July 11, 2018, Page 2B, Image 6

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    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-
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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
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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.