Recently detained migrants, many of them family units, sit and await processing in the US Border Patrol Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas on August 12, 2019.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently maintains three "family residential centers" where the children would be held with their parents -- two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania. But Congress has refused additional money to expand those centers.
McAleenan said the centers would care for the children and include such amenities as a library and video games.
“A gilded cage is still a cage and I think keeping these families in these facilities is definitely contrary to what should actually happen which is families being released in alternative detention," said Joann Bautista, a policy associate at the National Immigrant Justice Center.
The administration initially proposed doing away with the Flores settlement last fall. A draft rule published in September would have allowed for the long-term detention of families with "dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors." Those proposed rules languished, however, as the administration confronted a massive uptick in undocumented border crossings that's only recently began to slow down. The updated final regulation, to be published Friday, is expected to make the rule final although a judge would have the opportunity to block it.
(MORE: DHS chief denied mistreatment of migrants while his own agency found otherwise) Under the new plan, there is no specific cap on how long children could be detained with their parents. The families could try to get parole or bonded release, an option currently available to some immigrant detainees.
Congressional Democrats signaled they would fight the idea. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the plan was "illegal" and violated American values on the treatment of children.
"This regulation will allow the Administration to dramatically expand family detention and indefinitely lock up children," he said in a statement. "The Administration’s rule will put even more stress on our immigration system and add to the chaos the Administration continues to create."
ABC News producer Stephanie Ebbs contributed to this report.
Kaynak:Abcnews