Judge Invalidates Rule Allowing Migrant Expulsions on Border
President Trump is poised to issue an executive order Monday that would order the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to return to arresting undocumented immigrants caught crossing the border illegally.
“When ICE was created they separated 11- and 18-year old children from their parents and released them into the United States alone, with no documentation whatsoever,” said Trump in a statement released Monday. “That was then, and this is now.”
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Trump has been promising to do away with the family-busting practice of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and his administration has been attempting to do so since he took office, despite strong opposition from members of Congress, law enforcement officials, and civil rights groups.
ICE has been releasing hundreds of migrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and placing them in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to Reuters.
The administration’s proposed order would expand how migrants can be placed into the hands of CBP officers, not ICE, which the White House contends is the more effective organization in the country.
ICE could be subject to a lawsuit, however, and the Trump administration would likely defend any such action.
Trump’s stated reason for taking action is to protect migrant children at the border.
“I have tasked leaders in both the House and Senate with developing strong and lasting solutions for the border crisis,” he said. “They are in contact and will need my administration’s guidance as they craft a plan.”
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Migrants are fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries, according to the administration, and have been arrested crossing into the United States illegally.
The proposed executive order would allow ICE agents to pursue undocumented migrants on the border for up to 48 hours.
And it would provide a way for illegal border crossers to seek relief from federal