Illustration of children immigrants. (Reuters / Jorge Cabrera)

Education Program for Children Immigrants has Stopped by US President

USA - The decision about stopping education and recreation programs for children immigrants who are accommodated in US detention centers was stated in an official letter from the US Ministry of Health and Public Services (HHS), Mark Boss, to the Immigrant Shelter Office (ORR) which was first revealed in a report from the recent Investigation Reporting Center.

According to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday (5/6), Boss said that all budgets for educational and recreational activities, including paying staff in the program, were included in the category of "not allowed fees" as of May 22.

According to the US government, the reason for this decision is because the increase in the wave of children immigrants who broke through the border without escort that caused the collection agencies to be overwhelmed with managing funds.

Based on government data, border agents did hold 11,507 children immigrants only in May. Meanwhile, the shelter provided by ORR is already 96 percent full.

However, this decision contradicted the Flores Agreement which stipulated several provisions to treat immigrant children without assistance.

Under the agreement, the US must provide recreational access and educational activities, such as English language lessons and sports, if they want to detain children immigrants. Director of Immigration from the National Youth Law Center, Neha Desai stated that, if the government still does not provide access to education, recreation and other provisions, they will violate the Flores Agreement and will suffer legal consequences.

However, it is still not clear about this decision as HHS spokesman Evelyn Stauffer was reluctant to respond to the details of this report, and only said that, HHS did order agents under its roof to stop services which did not have a direct impact on life protection and safety of the children.

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20190606153651-134-401384/trump-hentikan-program-pendidikan-untuk-imigran-anak