Markey Joins Amicus Brief Urging Circuit Court to Affirm the Critical Protections of Minors in Immigration Detention

Washington (January 28, 2026) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today joined Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee and a group of 22 Senators in filing an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals urging the Court to uphold the 1997FloresSettlement Agreement, which sets critical minimum standards for children in immigration detention and continues to be the single most effective protection for detained noncitizen children.
The senators are filing the amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit case,Flores v. Bondi, where the opponents claim that the detention funding in the Republican’s“One, Big Beautiful Bill Act”overrode the protections provided in the 1997FloresSettlement Agreement. The amicus brief rejects the government’s baseless claims and explains that the reconciliation process cannot be used for such policy overhauls and that such a policy override would have been stricken from the bill.
The amicus brief was signed by Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Cathrine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The full amicus brief the lawmakers filed to the Ninth Circuit can be foundHERE.
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