Resuming a program of holding migrant families who enter the country illegally is something the Biden administration is thinking about doing.
Under the pretext of compassion, President Joe Biden promised to change several current immigration laws when he ran for office. Family detainment is one of the measures that Biden abolished. Families of migrants who entered the country illegally would have been held under the previous policy; now, under Biden, the families are freed and tracked.
However, as the border crisis worsens, Biden is being compelled to reevaluate stricter measures, such as family detention, according to the New York Times.
The program is being examined now since Title 42, which allows the government to speed migrant expulsions, is expiring in two months.
“As we get ready for the Title 42 Public Health Order to be removed, no decisions have been reached,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. “The administration will keep placing a high priority on the secure, efficient, and humanitarian processing of migrants.”
CNN has more.
According to a government official, “the administration is considering a number of alternatives to family detention for migrant families at the southern border.”
“Another source with knowledge of the discussions stated that alternatives to holding families in ICE facilities were also addressed. According to this source, family detentions would only last for a few days in an effort to differentiate the policy from how the Trump administration handled family detentions.”
Family detention became a policy under Barack Obama, according to NBC News, despite the prospective policy shift being presented as a return to Trump-era practices.
Biden unveiled a stringent new policy last month that will bar immigrants from seeking asylum if they enter the country illegally.
The New York Times said that the policy “would permit swift deportation of any person who failed to seek protection from another country when en route to the U.S. or who did not alert border officials through a mobile app of their intentions to seek asylum.” Upon the expiration of Title 42 in May, the policy would go into effect.
After over 150,000 immigrants entered the country in January, a considerable drop from the more than 250,000 who did so in December 2022, the policy was revealed.
