On Wednesday, the Trump administration plans on closing a loophole that requires illegal immigrants with children be released into the United States after 20 days of detention. The move would replace the Flores Settlement which amounts to a “catch and release” immigration policy.
Fox News reports: “Under the new planned policy, migrant families could be detained together while immigration judges consider their cases, instead of being released after 20 days, as stipulated under Flores.”
“President Trump has made it clear that he’s going to secure America’s border at all cost and this rule plays a vital role in the strategy to restore the integrity to our immigration system and our national security,” an administration official told the Washington Times.
Under the proposed change, migrants families would be held together in a detention center while awaiting their immigration hearing.
The 1997 Flores Agreement initially applied to unaccompanied alien children and required the children to be processed quickly, within 20 days and released into the United States. In 2015 an Obama-appointed judge ruled the agreement also applied to alien children accompanied by their illegal parent or family unit.