New immigration rule allows family detention

US officials announced plans Wednesday to replace the Flores Settlement with new regulation allowing the government to detain migrant families and children together – indefinitely – while their immigration status is determined.

According to acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, through 10 months of FY2019 (July) there were 475,000 family units arriving in the US – more than three times any full-year.

“They’ve been coming to exploit a vulnerability in our immigration frame work that says if you have a child with you, you cannot be held for more than 20 days,” McAleenan told Fox News.

He says the new regulations implement an extremely high level of care but also allows authorities to detain family units together while going through an “expeditious” process.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/21/us-to-remove-limit-on-how-long-immigrant-children-can-be-detained

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