President Biden plans to transform a contentious element of the U.S. immigration system, converting “family detention centers in South Texas into Ellis-Island-style rapid-processing hubs that will screen migrant parents and children with a goal of releasing them into the United States within 72 hours,” according to a new report from The Washington Post.
The shift in policy comes amid a surge at the southern border. In January, U.S. authorities arrested or detained 78,000 migrants crossing from Mexico, more than double the amount from a year earlier.
In late February, The New York Times reported:
In the last week, the Border Patrol intercepted more than 2,000 young migrants traveling without adults, most of them in their teens but some as young as 6. There is widespread concern that their numbers in coming months could break the record set in May 2019, when 11,000 underage migrants were encountered by the Border Patrol.
Biden’s new policy, which has been unannounced, is designed to process migrants without detaining them for long periods of time. The Washington Post reports that two family detention centers in Texas will “serve as quick-release intake centers that would screen migrant families, check their backgrounds and release them pending an immigration court hearing.” The Post continues:
“Some would enroll in “alternatives to detention,” such as ankle monitoring programs. Families would undergo coronavirus testing and nonprofits would then help them secure airplane or bus tickets to their final destinations in the United States, typically staying with friends or family.”
The goal is to process and release 100 families per day, the plans show. Migrants who test positive for covid will be quarantined for 10 days.
The Biden administration has faced competing pressure from immigration advocacy groups horrified that the detention centers still exist and elected officials from both parties concerned about managing the spike in illegal crossings.
Former President Donald Trump, who’s long used fear of immigration as a tool to stir up his base, told CPAC on Sunday “In just one short month, we have gone from ‘America First’ to America last. There’s no better example than the new and horrible crisis on our southern border.”
The shift toward processing centers is a repudiation of Trump’s border policy, but it’s also a rejection of the Obama administration’s use of detention centers. According to The Washington Post:
“During the Obama and Trump administrations, most families were quickly released or deported. But some were held in dormitory-style facilities for weeks or months, sometimes longer, for immigration proceedings. Advocates for these families have long said they shouldn’t be detained at all — a sentiment that Biden echoed on the campaign trail last year.”
