Based on a 2003 ruling, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is denying detained migrant mothers and children the right to be released on bond, even though many have valid asylum claims. This ruling, from former Attorney General John Ashcroft in response to 9/11, concerned granting bond to a Haitian immigrant in which Ashcroft claimed could encourage additional migration. Therefore, the DOJ is upholding this ruling, citing women and children being held in Artesia, New Mexico as national security threats.

Advocates for these women and children are saying that this facility is ill-equipped to care for children even though it was just recently opened to house women and children migrants reaching the U.S. border.

“You walk into the cafeteria at this detention center, and you’re greeted with a line of high chairs and infant seats,” said National Immigration Law Center’s Karen Tumlin. “What kind of risk is posed that we need to be locking these individuals up as they try to bring forward their asylum claim?”

The rate of migrant parents with children arriving at the U.S. border has tripled in 2014, with more than 22,000 apprehended since January of this year. At the end of July, approximately 283 women and 344 children were held in Artesia, and currently, there is only one pro bono lawyer for every 120 migrants in Artesia.

(Image from KVIA.com)