A Central American woman who sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for the safe return of her 12-year-old daughter told DailyMail
com that she let the girl go with border agents because she had seen officers physically abuse small children who resisted
'When they came to get my daughter at 3am, she was sleeping. I told her to go with them,' Perla Karlili Alemengor Miranda De Velasquez said through a Spanish translator
'I didn't want her to go, but I had seen officers grab little children who were three or four years old by their hair and throw them into cells when they tried to get back to their mothers
I didn't want them to hurt my daughter.' Miranda's attorney confirmed the English translation and said his client would stand by that statement
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about the stunning claim of violence directed at children, including a question about whether personnel in any sub-agency has been disciplined this year for physically harming a child
The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesman said Tuesday asked for confirmation of Miranda's name and said the agency would 'look into this
'In her lawsuit Miranda claims her daughter told her in a phone call that she was kept in a small room, fed cold food and slept in cold conditions – with no pillow and only an aluminum blanket for warmth
Miranda and her daughter are asylum-seekers who crossed the border on May 19 with government-issued IDs and the girl's birth certificate, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington, D
C. federal court.After two days in a holding cell, she says, immigration officers came for her daughter at 3:30 in the morning
SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE LAWSUIT 'She witnessed other officers take children away from their mothers and when those mothers asked why, the officers said, "because the government says we can",' the lawsuit alleges
Ten days later she filed a form with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent at Eloy Detention Center Arizona, asking: 'I would like to know where my daughter is
''She was with me and I don't know where she is. Thank you very much for your attention,' Miranda wrote
DailyMail.com is withholding the tween girl's name at her mother's request. The legal action, her attorney Mario Williams told DailyMail
com, is intended to make a case that the administration's 'zero tolerance' prosecution policy is 'racist' – and that treating Central American illegal immigrants differently from those of other nationalities is 'patently unconstitutional
' When they came to get my daughter at 3am, she was sleeping. I told her to go with them
I didn't want her to go, but I had seen officers grab little children who were three or four years old by their hair and throw them into cells when they tried to get back to their mothers
I didn't want them to hurt my daughter. – Perla Karlili Alemengor Miranda De Velasquez'The Trump Administration just doesn't want people from Central America in this country,' he insisted in a phone interview
Mike Donovan, CEO of Libre by Nexus, a Virginia firm that posts bonds for immigrants in federal detention, said his firm's charitable arm is funding the Miranda lawsuit because the administration is trying to discourage all Central American immigrants – including those with legitimate asylum claims – from making the trip to the U
S.'The administration is deterring legitimate asylum seekers,' Donovan said Tuesday
'We believe Central Americans are being targeted.'Nexus Services, the charitable division, announced Tuesday that it has set up a legal hotline for eparated families
Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he alleged, 'want to freeze all immigration as much as possible
The problem is that then you deter legal immigration and asylum-seekers.' Sessions in particular has talked openly about wanting Central Americans to 'get the message,' but he has also encouraged asylum-seekers to 'come through the border at the port of entry and not break across the border unlawfully
' In May 2015 the Obama administration agreed to drop a border policy, part of its 'aggressive deterrence strategy,' that used deterrence as a factor in deciding whether to release asylum-seekers into the U
S. or keep them in custody.A federal judge in Washington, D.C. had ruled that the practice was unconstitutional
Even without Donovan's broader aims, Miranda's case appears harrowing enough on its own
She has made a claim of 'credible fear' that she will be harmed if she returns to Guatemala, and the U
S. government released her on June 19 pending an asylum hearing. But she still doesn't know where her daughter is, despite being permitted two phone calls with her
During one call, the lawsuit alleges, a staff member of the facility holding the girl – known in court papers only as 'D' – 'remained on the line and would not let D
give Ms. V. too much information. D. was crying on the phone and wanted to be reunited with her mom
'In a second call, 'her daughter was crying again, asking to be with her mother, and [said] that for most of the day she was kept in a small room, with terrible, cold food, that she needed more clothes, that the facility was extremely cold, and that she had to sleep with only an aluminum blanket and no pillow
'Her lawyers believe the girl is at a Corpus Christi, Texas shelter operated by Upbring/LSS, a nonprofit whose shelter in McAllen, Texas first lady Melania Trump visited last week
Miranda, the mother, says she was not fed properly during her weeks in adult detention, lost weight, and 'was not sleeping due to worry and nightmares
'She was ultimately released without criminal charges, but also given no help locating her child
'Don't be sad. Don't sign anything,' she urged other parents on Tuesday during a short press availability
'Let them fight for their children.'Her case is similar to that of Beata Mejia-Mejia, whose 7-year-old son Darwin the government flew last week to reunite with her after she sued using the same legal team as Miranda
Mejia-Mejia may have put the first dent in a legal floodgate destined to swing open
The Justice Department declined comment on Tuesday, citing a policy of not publicly addressing ongoing litigation
DO ASYLUM-SEEKERS GET 'DUE PROCESS'? The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution provides 'due process of law,' meaning that a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime
And the 14th Amendment says no state can 'deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws
'The courts have generally interpreted that to mean that once a person has crossed the U
S. border, that person has the right to present his or her case, including any claim of political asylum
Conservative commentators often criticize these rulings, or ignore them. But access to the U
S. court system by non-citizens was in part why President George W. Bush opted to detain terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, an area leased to the U
S. military by Cuba. Keeping terror suspects off U.S. soil kept them outside the reach of civilian judges who might object to their treatment or lengthy detentions
(Trump during the 2016 campaign suggested he liked this approach of a U.S. prison outside the scope of America's legal system, promising to 'load it up with some bad dudes
')Due process can look different for each case. Rules for refugees, for example, differ from those seeking political asylum
A person's criminal record can play a role too, as can the location of entry, such as a designated port of arrival versus other parts of the border
Under current rules, a person detained within 100 miles of the border and who has been in the country for less than 14 days can be deported immediately, without being processed through immigration courts
But the person can also claim asylum, triggering a series of screenings by the federal government to determine if they are eligible
To qualify, they must demonstrate that they fear persecution as a result of their race, religion, political opinion or other factors
According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, about 76 percent of people receiving this 'credible fear' interview are approved and their case is referred to an immigration judge
Some people are released during the process, while others are required to wait in detention, depending upon the details of their case
– The Associated Press The Miranda lawsuit, unlike the one that preceded it a week ago, is brutal in its characterization of how the U
S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, a subagency of the Health and Human Services Department, is housing about 2,300 children separated from the adults who brought them across the border
The facility where Miranda's daughter is living, her lawyers argue is 'ORR's concentration camp of children
''The Administration's concentration of children in camp facilities, separate from their parents, has been seen before: in Nazi Germany, and in slavery times,' the lawsuit claims in some of its more strident language
'The Administration's doubled-down stance on this horrific policy, and attempts to silence bi-partisan opposition, has also been seen before, for example: Francoist Spain
' Current federal law allows U.S. immigration authorities to immediately return Mexican nationals to their home country when they cross illegally into the U
S. without legitimate claims for asylum.Not so with immigrants from countries that don't border the United States
The Trump administration has asked Congress to change that, a quirk in the law that it regards as a 'loophole' benefiting primarily Central Americans
Williams, the attorney behind both the Miranda and Mejia-Mejia lawsuits, sees it differently
'There is no law saying you can target Central America and say, "I'm going to give you a no-tolerance plan,' he said
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Trump ditched policy of splitting up families in immigration. Share this article Share 525 shares This month's national outrage over family separation at the U
S.-Mexico border represented the collision of that and other factors.When illegal immigrants arrive with children in tow, the government can't house the minors in adult jails
And a 1997 court ruling limits authorities to sheltering the kids for only 20 days
The 'zero tolerance' policy, which requires the criminal prosecution of every unlawful border-jumper, resulted in a resource crunch that pulled varying government agencies in different directions – and left the White House unable to explain what would happen in less than three weeks' time
Trump signed an executive order last week directing Sessions to petition a judge for wiggle-room in the 20 day limit
That would permit the Homeland Security Department to house families together for as long as it takes an adult's case to get a hearing
Asylum-seekers must establish that they have a 'credible fear' of harm where they began their journey
Donovan said making asylum claims at the U.S. border, rather than at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City or at other diplomatic posts, is 'a heck of a lot safer' for Central Americans who fear persecution from Mexicans that can rival the violence they experience at home
Velazquez is suing Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd and an unnamed ORR 'federal field specialist' at the Corpus Christi shelter
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