Trump officials brazen in disregarding detention rules, Professor Cooper tells Guardian

Professor Holly Cooper told England’s the Guardian newspaper, in a piece describing grim conditions at an immigrant detainment facility in McAllen, Texas, that the Trump administration is showing a disregard for detainee treatment rules that is unprecedented in her career.

“I’ve been doing work with detainees for 20 years, and the biggest change in my mind is the government’s attitude of impunity,” Cooper told the Guardian. “Before, I could sit down with government officials and they would at least hear me out as I strived to push the needle toward something more human … Now there is a total kibosh on talking to civil rights lawyers.”

On Sept. 6, the Department of Homeland Security announced a proposal aimed at circumventing limits on how long children can be detained under the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that established standards for underage migrants.

Cooper and the Immigration Law Clinic, which she co-directs, are part of a lawsuit filed against the government alleging violations of the Flores agreement at Shiloh Treatment Center, a juvenile detention facility in Manvel, Texas.

Professor Holly S. Cooper ’98 has extensive litigation experience defending the rights of immigrants and is a nationally recognized expert on immigration detention issues and on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions.