ICE deportation agents ordered not to detain crime victims
By minimizing the "chilling effect" of potential deportation, the policy change can encourage undocumented immigrants to contact law enforcement, ICE argued.
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By minimizing the "chilling effect" of potential deportation, the policy change can encourage undocumented immigrants to contact law enforcement, ICE argued.
"My anxiety attacks have been abnormal here — they have gotten worse since I arrived," a 16-year-old migrant girl from El Salvador said in a court declaration.
The efforts mark a new, more stringent chapter in the Biden administration's border policy.
After August 30, 36 Texas-based shelters housing migrant children in federal care will no longer be regulated or inspected by state officials.
Children born abroad to couples who used assisted reproductive technology, like surrogacy, will now qualify for U.S. citizenship, even if the U.S. parent is not biologically related to them.
Customs and Border Protection will begin rolling out roughly 6,000 body cameras by the end of the year.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state authorities last week to stop and re-route vehicles suspected of transporting migrants who crossed the southern border illegally.
By citing a public health law, U.S. officials at the southern border have been able to expel migrants to Mexico or their home countries without allowing them to apply for humanitarian refuge.
Incidents of self-harm, panic attacks and escape attempts among migrant children housed at Fort Bliss have alarmed federal officials who worked at the site.
U.S. border officials have been using a public health law first invoked by the Trump administration to expel some migrants without allowing them to request asylum.
Border Patrol holding facilities for unaccompanied children and families could become dangerously overcrowded due to Texas' order, the Biden administration argued in its lawsuit.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, instructed state authorities to stop vehicles suspected of transporting migrants, alleging that they could spread the coronavirus.
"I feel frustrated that there's significant opposition to giving us an opportunity for something we didn't choose to do. We were kids. We didn't choose this," said 18-year-old Agustin, who applied for DACA this year.
Migrant children housed at the Fort Bliss tent camp "felt like they were in prison and often begged 'please get me out of here, I don't know if I can take it anymore,'" according to a new whistleblower complaint.
Expedited removal allows U.S. border officials to expel migrants without a hearing before an immigration judge.
U.S. Judge Andrew Hanen blocked tens of thousands of immigrant teenagers and young adults from accessing the Obama-era legal protections.
"Allow me to be clear: if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned on Tuesday.
More than 81,000 immigrant teens and young adults are waiting for a decision on their DACA applications as a looming court ruling threatens the program's existence.
A refugee charity estimates that if the bill is passed, between 9,000 and 21,600 applicants who would currently qualify for refugee status in Britain no longer would.
ICE is currently detaining more than 27,000 immigrants. So far, just over 1,300 detainees have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Biden administration had already instructed ICE to focus on arresting immigrants with certain criminal convictions, recent border-crossers and foreigners deemed to pose a national security threat.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would review cases of immigrants whose deportations "failed to live up to our highest values."
The Department of Health and Human Services will continue to house migrant children at four emergency sites, including a tent camp at the Fort Bliss Army base.
A looming federal court decision threatens the Obama-era program, which offers deportation relief to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
CBS News has reported that migrant children held at Fort Bliss are constantly monitored for self-harm, escape attempts and panic attacks.