As the illegal immigration crisis along the U.S. southern border reaches a boiling point, the Trump Administration is looking to keep illegally immigrated families detained together for as long as possible.
Trump does not want to follow in the “catch and release” immigration footsteps of President George W. Bush and Barack Obama, rather keep those that have entered the country illegally, detained until their cases are heard or addressed.
But while that may sound fair to many Americans, there are others who feel that Trump is trying to break federal immigration statute.
According to the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997, there is a 20-day limit on children being kept in immigration detention. Obama tried to skirt this law by detaining kids along with their families, but a court ruled that 20-days are 20-days, regardless of whether the kids are with their parents or families.
Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) says that the recently penned letter from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to the U.S. Congress is an attempt by Trump to “violate” the Flores statute, and that the president is simply “terrorizing immigrants” who willfully broke U.S. immigration law.
This is not about border security. It's about terrorizing immigrants. Heads up Secretary Nielsen - Congress will not give you authority to violate the law. We see through this attempt to get around the Flores settlement.https://t.co/QumFEy4dUb
— Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) April 1, 2019
Wasserman Schultz has also condemned the administration for temporarily housing captured illegal immigrants under a Texas highway overpass, but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the president himself pointed out that those individuals were being kept there because all other housing was filled to capacity.
It is expected that 1 million illegal immigrants will cross over into the U.S. during 2019.
