The Trump administration has unveiled a potentially far-reaching rule that will put a permanent halt to the child separation policy that began with the Obama administration.
The rule will modify the decades-old Flores Settlement Agreement, a widely criticized Supreme Court ruling that forces federal immigration forces to hold detained illegal alien children for no longer than 20 days. After the 20 days expires, the authorities must either separate the children from their illegal alien parents or release the whole family into the U.S.
The rule will take effect in 60 days, according to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan:
(1/5) Today, @DHSgov & @HHSgov have issued the “Flores Final Rule”, which allows DHS to keep families together during fair and expeditious immigration proceedings, and eliminates a key incentive that encourages traffickers to exploit children.
— Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan (@DHSMcAleenan) August 21, 2019
(2/5) Today’s action addresses a court-imposed weakness in immigration law that prevented DHS from detaining a family together for more than 20 days and codifies critical commitments on the conditions for children in Federal care.
— Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan (@DHSMcAleenan) August 21, 2019
(3/5) It will help address the dramatic 469% increase this year from the record number of family units apprehended in FY18. The incentive to cross the
border illegally with a vulnerable child must come to an end.— Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan (@DHSMcAleenan) August 21, 2019
(4/5) This rule implements the commitments of the Flores settlement. While we continue to seek legislative solutions, we must take administrative action to address the ongoing security and humanitarian crisis.
— Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan (@DHSMcAleenan) August 21, 2019
(5/5) Keeping families together during immigration proceedings, & ensuring that asylum seekers w/ meritorious claims get resolution, are important steps to enhance the integrity of the system & extend protections to those that need them. See more here: https://t.co/fNibhnkxfH
— Acting Sec. Kevin McAleenan (@DHSMcAleenan) August 21, 2019
A remnant of former President Bill Clinton’s administration, the Flores settlement was used during the Obama administration to justify separating illegal alien children from their parents. While that policy continued unabated when President Donald Trump stepped into office two years later, what changed was the media’s focus. Whereas they ignored the previous administration’s separation policy, they’ve used the current president’s continuation of it to smear him as cruel and malicious.
Because of the smears, the administration has often been forced via public pressure to just release illegal alien families into the interior. This has in turn only further incentivized not only illegal immigration but also the “recycling” of illegal alien children.
In a statement Tuesday evening to The Daily Caller, a senior administration official noted that the implementation of this rule — which has already provoked massive backlash from congressional Democrats and their media allies — will put a stop to all this.
“The Administration is closing one of the legal loopholes that has allowed human traffickers and smugglers to exploit our vulnerabilities at the southern border,” the official said.
“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.”
McAleenan reveals staggering details on human trafficking: ‘Prosecuted 615 individuals’ in past 8 weeks alone including 5,500 cases of fraud Dems have shown virtually no interest in holding a spotlight to this evil, because they created it#WakeUpAmerica https://t.co/RsAEmiDjjx
— Dawn Orlando (@Aramaithea) July 19, 2019
According to The Washington Times, the administration is pursuing this rule as “an end-run around Congress, where Democrats have rebuffed Mr. Trump’s requests for a legislative solution.”
Both congressional Democrats and the current crop of Democrat presidential candidates have shown no interest in modifying the Flores Settlement Agreement, arguing instead that illegal aliens shouldn’t be detained, period — that they should all be released into the interior.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the top three candidates running for office, said earlier this summer that one of his first acts as president would be to sign an executive order effectively shutting down all private illegal alien detention facilities.
“He believes we must stand up for our values and accept refugees, asylum-seekers, and families who come to the United States in search of the American Dream,” his campaign reportedly said in a statement at the time. “That means not holding asylum seekers in detention while their applications are processed. And that means ending the for-profit detention center and prison industrial complex.”
Presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker went even further by vowing to “stop treating immigrants as criminals” and thus making illegal immigration legal …
Their plans would effectively turn America into an open-borders nation. In fact, even former Obama administration official Jeh Johnson who served as the Homeland Security secretary from 2013 to early 2017, has warned as much.
“That is tantamount to declaring publicly that we have open borders,” he said in a statement to The Washington Post last month. “That is unworkable, unwise and does not have the support of a majority of American people or the Congress, and if we had such a policy, instead of 100,000 apprehensions a month, it will be multiples of that.”
The only legitimate plan appears to be to keep detaining illegal aliens — but preferably in a way that doesn’t involve separating illegal alien children from their parents. And it just so happens that the only plan that seems to offer all this is the one just unveiled by the Trump administration.
Nevertheless, backlash is already beginning to brew:
It’s appalling that the Trump Admin is trying to roll back the Flores agreement, which ensures independent oversight & protects migrant children. The Trump Admin wants to indefinitely detain vulnerable families despite the irreparable trauma it will cause to children & babies. https://t.co/WvHgrNUnaY
— Hispanic Caucus (@HispanicCaucus) August 21, 2019
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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