Law Commons^™

Unpacking Doj’S New Claim That Dhs Can Legally Detain Migrant Children With Their Parents For Longer Than Twenty Days, Deborah Pearlstein, Marty Lederman, Ryan Goodman

Faculty Online Publications

The Trump administration recently claimed it could not reunite migrant children with parents who are being held in ICE detention due to a court order requiring the government to release such children from custody within (at most) 20 days. The government now claims, however, that it can legally detain the children with their parents in ICE detention for much longer than 20 days. How did the government come to this position? In this post we’ll answer that question, and address a central flaw in the government’s logic.