U.S. to Speed Up Deportation of Migrants

Wall Street Journal

By Laura Meckler

June 20, 2014

U.S. to Speed Up Deportation of Migrants

WASHINGTON—Responding to a surge of illegal migration from Central America, the Obama administration said Friday it would work to process and deport people more quickly and that it was opening a new detention facility for families crossing the border with children, who are often released because there is no place to hold them.

The facility will be located on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center's Artesia, N.M., campus and will hold families while their deportation proceedings unfold. Once the center is operational, the government plans to send additional judges and attorneys to process their deportation cases more swiftly, officials said.

The Homeland Security Department said the facility is one of several DHS is considering to hold and expedite the deportation of the mounting number of adults with children illegally crossing the southwest border.

"We will house them in facilities that are humane and compliant with legal requirements," said Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. In 2009, the government shut down the main family detention center amid complaints about conditions there.

Today, the government only has about 100 beds to house families with children, and none are in the Rio Grande Valley, where most of the new migrants are crossing into the U.S. This fiscal year, about 39,000 people traveling in family groups have been apprehended, with the vast majority released. Some received ankle bracelets to monitor their movements, a policy that will continue, an official said.

This plan will do nothing to address another piece of the Central American surge—children traveling to the U.S. alone, a group that is treated differently under U.S. law.

In separate briefings, Vice President Joe Biden and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin commented on the influx of unaccompanied Central American minors illegally entering the US through Mexico. 

Hoping to discourage minors from making the perilous trip, Vice President Joe Biden met Friday in Guatemala with Central American leaders. He emphasized that all countries involved must work to stem the tide and that the U.S. is ramping up enforcement.

"We are prioritizing the need to resolve these cases…in light of the humanitarian crisis caused by the number of crossings," Mr. Biden said Friday. "Make no mistake, once an individual's case is fully heard, and if he or she does not qualify for asylum, he or she will be removed from the United States and returned home. Everyone should know that."

About 52,000 children traveling alone have been apprehended since the fiscal year began last October. U.S. law requires that these children be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services, which works to find family or friends in the U.S. where the children can live while their deportation cases are being processed.

Meantime, officials are sending more immigration judges, attorneys and asylum officers to the border now to handle cases of adults traveling alone who are claiming they qualify for asylum. Those who are found ineligible will be "promptly removed" from the U.S., Mr. Mayorkas said.

The White House has long emphasized that violence in Central America is the main factor pushing people in Central America to make the perilous journey north to the U.S. But in making their announcement on Friday, officials acknowledged the widespread belief in Central America that people who make it to the U.S. border will be rewarded with permission to stay.

The goal is to "deal with the misinformation that is being deliberately planted by criminal organizations, by smuggling networks, about what people can expect if they come to the United States," said Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and point person on immigration.

That is also a major goal for Mr. Biden, who was in Guatemala on Friday meeting with leaders from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, the three countries responsible for the bulk of the recent surge.

Adults traveling alone who are apprehended are typically held in a detention facility until their cases can be heard. But there is little space to hold families, so even though they are still subject to deportation, families are often released pending a hearing—a reality that could be fueling perceptions in Central America that migrants who make it into the U.S. can stay.

Officials didn't reply to questions about how many families who have been released later appeared for deportation hearings as directed.

Reaction to the administration's announcement was mixed.

"I am pleased to see that the administration is finally taking some steps to address the crisis caused by the flood of undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied children from Central America arriving at the Texas-Mexico border," said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D., Texas).

But other Democrats and immigrant advocates said it was wrong to put children into jail while awaiting their deportation hearing.

"I don't think small children should be locked up in jail. There is consensus that we must quickly address this refugee and humanitarian crisis, but to say that a child who is apprehended at the border with their parent must remain locked up throughout their judicial proceeding is simply a step too far," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

And Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the plan was "nothing but smoke and mirrors" because many border crossers can game the law to find ways to stay, such as by claiming the need for asylum.

In Guatemala, Mr. Biden is also emphasizing that people who come to the U.S. now don't qualify for a 2012 program offering safe harbor to children who came to the U.S. illegally before 2007, nor would they qualify for the legalization provisions contemplated in immigration legislation that passed the Senate last year. President Barack Obama made the same points to Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto in a phone call on Thursday.

The White House also announced a basket of aid to Central American countries aimed at helping them deal with the migration crisis and address the root causes that prompt people want to leave.

That includes $40 million for a citizen security program for some of the most violent communities in Guatemala, $25 million for a five-year program in El Salvador to establish 77 additional youth outreach centers, and $9.6 million to help Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador receive their citizens who are returned after being deported from the U.S.

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