The Trump administration is considering a plan to separate parents from their children when families are caught entering the country illegally.
The policy under discussion would send parents to adult detention facilities, while their children would be placed in shelters designed for juveniles or with a “sponsor,” who could be a relative in the United States, though the administration may also tighten these rules.
The policy is favored by the White House, and has been approved by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to three officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The officials said that the new Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, who has final approval power, has yet to sign off on the proposal.
- S. Senate Republican Leader Says Immigration Will Be Addressed Early Next Year
- S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that Congress would address immigration early next year, including a program that gives immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children the opportunity to become citizens.
Democrats demanded, but were denied, a vote this week on a measure that would allow an estimated 1.2 million immigrants to remain legally in the U.S. McConnell, Republican for Kentucky, told reporters on Capitol Hill, “We have a commitment on a bipartisan basis to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program issue. We’ll devote full time to that in January.”
McConnell said a working group that includes Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois also must “do other things” to “improve the legal immigration system,” particularly with respect to what some call chain migration, a community or extended-family-based process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to specific U.S. cities or neighborhoods.
Congress Halts U. S. Government Shutdown by Pushing Rows Over Immigration, Healthcare and Surveillance into 2018
Averting a government shutdown, Congress has passed a short-term spending bill that defers decisions on key issues. The measure left unresolved disputes around immigration, surveillance and an imperiled children’s health insurance program. There was no agreement on replacing an initiative known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
The bill temporarily extends a warrantless surveillance program authorised under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, powers that continue to be embroiled in a congressional debate over privacy and civil liberties.
A lapsed health insurance program that offers coverage to millions of low-income children will be funded until March. Disagreement over military spending also helped thwart a longer-term agreement.
Federal Prison Populations Show Need for Border Wall, Immigration Reform
Homeland Security and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials laid out the details of the “Alien Incarceration Report” to reporters Thursday. Nearly 38,000 people from foreign countries are currently in federal custody, and of those, 94% are in the country illegally. Agency officials said they are still looking into where an additional 21,000 people originated from but suspected they were not born in the U.S.
Randy Capps, the Director of Research for U.S. Programs at the Migration Policy Institute, said that the results of the numbers shouldn’t have been a surprise to the U.S. government. But administration officials used the numbers to reiterate a call for a border wall along the Mexican border and the end of a family-based immigration system, sometimes known as chain migration.
President Trump’s Immigration Policies Made Waves and Stoked Fears in Colorado Schools
President Trump’s hardline immigration policies had a profound effect on Colorado’s education community in 2017, with students taking to the streets, teachers recasting lesson plans, and school boards seeking to calm fears. Denver Public Schools took a number of steps this year as fears spread in immigrant communities about enforcement crackdowns under Trump. The state’s largest school district also joined with the Mexican consulate in those efforts and promised to build on their longstanding partnership.
In February, several Colorado school districts reported a spike in absences among students and staff during a “Day Without Immigrants,” a demonstration of immigrants’ contributions to society. In September, students from more than 20 Denver schools walked out of class and converged on a downtown college campus to protest President Trump’s order to end the DACA program.
The Aurora school board grappled with heightened concerns about immigration policy, too. Dozens of Aurora students and parents pressed the board to adopt a proposed resolution for “safe and inclusive” schools. The board ultimately adopted a resolution, but not before fault lines emerged over the intent.
