Sick 9-Year-Old Girl Illegally Held By Border Patrol Released

Speaker 1: 00:00 A nine year old asylum seeker from El Salvador being held in a border patrol station in San Diego has been released. Attorney say the girl had been held for 10 days and violation of a longstanding agreement that limits the time a miner can stay in border patrol custody to 72 hours. KPBS reporter max Rivlin Adler has been following this case and joins us now. Max, welcome. Hi. What else can you tell us about the minor? Who I understand was being held with her mother? Speaker 2: 00:29 So the minor was from El Salvador. She was nine years old. She came to Tijuana with her mother fleeing a, so El Salvador asking for asylum this past spring. They waited for several months in Tijuana under the metering policy, which makes people wait for months essentially to be able just to be processed for asylum once they were processed in June, um, in, they were then taken in, placed in the remain in Mexico program, which is the Trump administration policy, which sends individuals back to Mexico to wait out their asylum claims. Uh, so they had been going back and forth from Mexico to San Diego over the past few months for their court hearings on their asylum case and then back to Mexico. Where are they now? So, um, right now they are in a shelter in San Diego County after they were being held at the border patrol station, uh, for 10 days. So what happened was after one of their hearings for the remain in Mexico program, they were not sent back to Mexico. Speaker 2: 01:37 Uh, it was unclear why this decision was made, but they were sent instead to a border patrol station at that border patrol station. They were held for over 10 days. Uh, they, the, their lawyers were unable to contact them. And the nine year old miner, uh, somehow got access to a phone called their lawyers and told them that they were both, uh, falling, very sick. A lot of people had airborne illnesses. They were having stomach elements. Um, and that the situation was really dire. The lawyers themselves couldn't reach them during that time, especially, um, considering that it was a violation of the Flores settlement agreement, which limits the amount of time that a miner can stay in a border patrol custody two 72 hours. Eventually their lawyers filed a habeas petition. We picked up on the story, um, and customs and border protection remove them from their custody, uh, yesterday. So they are at a shelter right now in the San Diego area pending their next court hearing. Uh, they're trying to get their next court hearing moved to Maryland where the mother has another daughter who's, you know, a sister of the nine year old. Um, but unfortunately their health is not great. And the mother I was told by attorneys, uh, was taken to the hospital last night and her status right now is unclear. The daughter cannot reach her. Speaker 1: 02:56 So the girl and her mother were part of the remain in program, which is officially known as the migrant protection protocols. If they are part of that program, then why were they being held in detention in San Diego? Speaker 2: 03:09 Right. So that was the big question is a lot of times most people do get sent back after their court hearings. They'd gone to two previous court hearings where they had been sent back to Mexico again. They had attorneys, which is rare, extremely rare. Only 1% of the people in the remain in Mexico, um, program have attorneys. Uh, their attorneys were trying to get their venue changed from San Diego to Maryland so they could reunify with their family members. Um, maybe that threw a wrench into the system. Something happened, but they were not returned to Mexico. They were taken to this border patrol station in San Diego County where they were unable to meet with their lawyers. The lawyers literally had no idea where they were until they got the phone call from the, the nine year old girl, you know, and kind of a, uh, a daring show of agency on her part to even call the lawyers. Speaker 1: 03:55 What kind of impact would you say the remaining Mexico program had on the asylum system? Speaker 2: 04:01 On the in silence system at large, it is completely up ended. What we consider, um, you know, basically the asylum system, which is that people come, they um, make a, a claim. They're a about that they fear returning to their home country. Uh, they are evaluated rather quickly in an initial screening that says whether they have a fear or not, uh, whether their fear is credible. And then that begins the next, uh, phase of their asylum claim. Uh, under this, you lose that initial interview, you end up being just kind of returned and mass to um, Mexico. You then have to wait months and uh, for, to get a, a final determination. People have given up in their claim. People have been kidnapped, people have disappeared. In this specific case, the mother and daughter had to actually fight off, uh, individuals who were trying to kidnap their roommate. That migrant protection protocols or remain in Mexico have been called by several people to be a, uh, cartel, a stimulus program just because it delivers people who do not have roots in the community back to border towns where they become expecially vulnerable to kidnapping and extortion. Speaker 1: 05:16 Meanwhile, the Trump administration is challenging the so called Flores settlement agreement. President Trump has referred to it as a loophole because it allows CBP to release immigrants from detention. What does CBP have to say about why it might hold minors past that 72 hours? Speaker 2: 05:33 Right? So the 72 hours were created because border patrol stations are not equipped to handle minors. Uh, they do not have the medical care. They do not have, um, kind of a hygiene that's needed to care for a lot of people in general, but specifically for minors. So the Trump administration has said, listen, we understand that, let us continue to detain children with their parents in different facilities, these family detention facilities, um, that aren't border patrol stations, but also allow us to no longer, uh, follow through with what we consider to be called catch and release. Uh, the big problem, of course with private family detention facilities is that new state will license these. This is not something that States want to get into the business of. Obviously family detention has some pretty negative connotations in general and this is something that the federal government would need to work around and they're trying to invalidate the agreement in court. And that was just recently as of two weeks ago struck their original proposal, their original new rule that would break the Flores settlement agreement was struck down by a district court judge in Los Angeles. Speaker 1: 06:42 You know, are there any consequences for CBP violating the Flores settlement? Speaker 2: 06:47 So the consequences are that they, uh, lawyers who kind of have been keeping the litigation going for the floor settlement agreement now over 20 years, um, they bring it into court every time there is a, uh, a violation and they have to argue it out there. It's a really slow process. There's no real mechanism for the district court to enforce the, the agreement because CBP often says that, you know, listen, we don't have the resources, we don't have the logistical abilities to deal with the massive amount of people that have shown up on the Southern border, which is true. There are way more people being taken into CVP custody this year and last year, then, um, the three years previously. Um, that being said, that doesn't mean that, um, you know, the government itself doesn't have the resources to be able to do this. Uh, when CBP does do violate these things, uh, usually it goes to the court. The court mandates that CVB do it. Often they do it, sometimes they don't. And then you're back in court. Speaker 1: 07:50 And I know that this was a story you broke and one of many you'll continue to follow at the border. Max Rivlin nether KPBS reporter, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you.