- DOJ to drop child sex abuse case against migrant shelters because it could hurt deportation plans Archived Message
Posted by ATL
on March 10, 2025, 9:02:59, in reply to "March politics thread"
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https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/us-said-to-drop-sex-abuse-lawsuit-against-migrant-child-shelter The decision follows a push by well-known Supreme Court litigator Lisa Blatt, a Williams & Connolly partner representing Southwest Key Programs, to get the Trump Justice Department to dismiss the matter. Blatt said it could hobble the administration’s goal of cracking down on illegal immigration, according to a Feb. 11 email to the Justice Department viewed by Bloomberg Law. Suing Southwest Key under a federal civil rights law and seeking money damages for the children would, if successful, offer sweeping protections to federal detainees and “actually incentivize illegal crossings at the southern border,” Blatt wrote in the email to officials including Associate Deputy Attorney General Ketan Bhirud. Government lawyers are expected to file a dismissal notice in the civil case in a Texas federal court against Southwest Key, which is the US’s largest private housing provider for children who enter the country without parents or guardians, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity. Johnathan Smith, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said a dismissal raises concerns about politicization of the department’s enforcement of civil rights laws. “This case is about children being raped and abused,” Smith said. “This shouldn’t be the type of case where politics dictate how the department approaches that.” |
- tvillini March 27, 2025, 11:45:41