In an exclusive, Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts reported Wednesday morning that President Donald Trump is considering executive action to allow children to stay with detained illegal immigrant parents as they make their way through the immigration adjudication process.
Roberts also reported that Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen “is going to urge the president to allow Congress to pass a stand-alone loopholes bill.”
“An hour ago I reported to you that the White House, the president is considering… some sort of executive action that could allow children to be detained with their parents for longer than is currently permissible under the 1997 Flores vs. Reno court agreement,” Roberts said. “That stipulates that after 20 days children have to either be removed from their parents and given to a relative, a caregiver or some sort of licensed care facility, or the entire family unit released, which we saw a lot of during the Obama administration.”
EXCLUSIVE: @realDonaldTrump considering some sort of executive action today to allow children to stay with detained parents through immigration adjudication process. Sources say Admin believes it is likely to draw a court challenge on the basis of Flores v Reno
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) June 20, 2018
“Now, I’m told that the Secretary of Homeland Security is urging the president that what the White House should do is get behind a standalone loopholes bill to close this family separation issue and then do the other things at a future date,” Roberts added.
This would have to be legislation that can pass in the House and clear obstructionist Democrats in the Senate, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
EXCLUSIVE: And now another potential track – sources tell @FoxNews that @SecNielsen is encouraging @realDonaldTrump to support a stand-alone “loopholes” bill in Congress and do the broader immigration/border security measures in another bill.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) June 20, 2018
“It’s unclear exactly what action the White House may take but there is a belief that if the president’s signs off on this idea of backing a standalone loopholes bill, that that’s something that could get passed by Congress or at least the House today and maybe something that would pass muster in the Senate as well,” Roberts said.
The president’s concern is not allowing families to just disappear within the country, as only three percent of illegal immigrants return for scheduled court dates, Roberts noted.
If a family here illegally is released after 20 days, disappearing into the heartland is almost a certainty.
A reality that comes at “unbelievable taxpayer expense,” according to the president.
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