To stop the migratory wave that is shaking the country, the government of President Joe Biden is considering reviving the controversial practice of temporarily imprisoning entire families who cross the border illegally, even if there are minors among them.
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That according to a new report published by The New York Times according to which the issue is being discussed at the highest level and could enter into force as of May 11.
If it materializes, it would mark the return of the US to a practice that was highly questioned when it was applied during the administration of Donald Trump and that Biden himself had discontinued when he arrived at the White House in January 2021.
And it would also constitute a new proof of the hardening of this Democratic administration in the face of the immigration issue. Just ten days ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) presented a new measure that declares ineligible for asylum any immigrant who arrives at the border without having first applied for protection in the countries they crossed before arriving in the United States.
Something that, in practice, would close the doors to migrants who seek asylum and do not apply before from their own countries or countries of transit.
This could affect the thousands of Colombians who are arriving monthly at the southern border for this purpose.
US law currently allows detaining entire families who cross the border illegally for up to 20 days. A number of days that was determined in the courts after Trump implemented a program that allowed them to be imprisoned indefinitely.
Biden, upon reaching the Oval Office, canceled the temporary arrest practice and replaced it with a system under which families are released into the US and then monitored via ankle bracelets, trackable cell phones and other devices while they are being held. Immigration courts determine if they are allowed to stay or are deported.
But it is a system that is used sporadically since a large majority of migrants, even those who arrive with families, can be expelled today under the so-called Title 42, a measure that allows the US to deny entry on the grounds that there is a health emergency in the country.
But title 42 expires in May and there is enormous concern that this will unleash an even greater flow of migrants to the US that is already reaching historic levels. And that is why they are considering reviving the family arrest program as a deterrence strategy.
The report of Times He points out that a final decision has not yet been made and that, in any case, the Biden administration would, at a minimum, respect the provisions of the court. In other words, that families of illegals would be detained for only 20 days, after which they would be deported or released on US soil wearing ankle bracelets.
But critics allege that the US does not have the capacity to arrest even for those 20 days the large volume of migrants that could arrive, which could lead to inhumane conditions of imprisonment. Especially for minors in family nuclei.
The administration alleges, on the other hand, that they are not returning to the Trump era when families were detained for months and that it even went as far as separating parents from children in order to comply with the 20-day limit in cases of minors.
However, pro-immigration groups, which are part of the Democratic coalition that brought Biden to the presidency, are furious over the breach of his campaign promises and this new shift to the right.
Ending the inhumane practice of family detention has been one of the only positive immigration policy decisions of the Biden administration.
“Ending the inhumane practice of family detention has been one of the only positive immigration policy decisions of the Biden administration. So it is heartbreaking to hear that there could be a return to the use of this Trump-era practice,” Leecia said. Welch, lead attorney in the case that led to the 1997 Flores settlement, which limits the time children can spend in detention and sets minimum standards for detention facilities.
Although the crisis at the border is real (almost 2.5 million arrests last year, a record), Biden’s moves are also political. Illegal immigration, as is recalled, was the workhorse that brought Trump to the presidency in 2016. It is also a topic that resonates strongly with the Republican Party base and that will be central in the electoral campaigns facing the presidential and legislative elections of 2024. With Trump once again in the rattle and Biden seeking re-election, the hardening on immigration issues may somewhat dampen the attacks that he will receive on that front.
But he will have to pay a high price within his own party, where a strong hand is rejected against people who have fled poverty and/or persecution in their countries seeking a better future for their families.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
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