According to US authorities, the Biden administration may hold illegal immigrant families as it prepares to abolish COVID-19 limitations at the US-Mexico border.
After late 2021, officials stopped detaining families. After COVID-19 limits are released in May, Homeland Security officials are planning for a surge in migrants at the border. Officials said detention is one of several alternatives under consideration.
One official claimed families jailed for a few days will have their immigration court cases accelerated. Officials spoke to the AP anonymously about internal debates. “Rumors” that the proposal was under discussion were ignored by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “I’m not saying it is or isn’t,” she remarked Tuesday.
She refused to answer whether President Biden considers family imprisonment humane. Biden wants “comprehensive immigration reform,” according to the Hill.
Families who cross the US-Mexico border are freed and ordered to appear in immigration court later. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently holds single individuals who cross the border illegally in facilities that held few families during the outbreak. As record numbers of asylum seekers cross the Mexico border, the US is restricting migrants.
Immigration groups objected to detaining families again, citing studies on the harm it causes children and families. Because they were informed families would no longer be held, many were astonished.
