2023-08-04 01:37:14
The Joe Biden government will expand the current program that imposes curfews on immigrants who cross the border irregularly in search of asylum to more cities, the newspaper reported. Los Angeles Timesciting sources from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).
Under the program, known as Family Expedited Removal Management (VERY)some families seeking asylum in the United States but crossing the border without authorization are monitored with GPS devices —in the case of heads of families— and are subject to curfews.
The program that includes the curfews was announced in May and initially applied to immigrants residing in Newark (New Jersey), Washington, DC, Baltimore (Maryland) and Chicago (Illinois).
Curfews for some immigrants, which began to apply at the beginning of the summer, were They run from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
The measure will now be expanded to three California cities: San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose. Boston, Massachusetts, is also expected to be added to that list. The government’s goal, the sources told the Times, is for the program to be extended to dozens of cities across the country in the next two months.
Migrants seeking asylum speak with law enforcement following crossing the Rio Grande River into the United States on June 14, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Brandon Bell / Getty Images
The expansion of the program is a sign that the government has no plans to keep families in detention centers and is instead seeking alternatives to monitor them and ensure they appear in court for their asylum appointments.
“Although the FERM program initially began in four locations, DHS [Departamento de Seguridad Nacional] it is rapidly expanding it to cities across the country and expelling families determined to be ineligible for aid [asilo]which are removed through this process that does not include a detention,” said an ICE statement sent to the Los Angeles Times.
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The Biden Administration has made efforts to publicize the consequences faced by families who receive deportation orders, in an apparent attempt to discourage irregular border crossings.
To that end, over the past week, ICE has sent out press releases regarding deportations of families along with videos of family groups boarding planes on return trips to their home countries.
ICE officials have reiterated that families enrolled in the curfew program would be deported if they did not pass the asylum tests.
“We do not plan to detain families. We will use alternatives to detention, including some innovations in that regard, and we will use, on a case-by-case basis, better alternatives to detention when justified,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas declared in April.
ICE has not disclosed the number of families that have been returned to their home countries as part of this plan.
“There are consequences for families,” an ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Times in May before the program was officially announced. “If they are not eligible to remain in the United States, they are going to be placed in removal proceedings.”
After months of declining numbers, the irregular arrival of migrants at the southern border increased by 30% in July compared to the previous month, according to official data from the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) advanced by the newspaper The Washington Post.
Border Patrol interdicted more than 130,000 people in July, up from 99,000 the previous month. Most of the migrants who were intercepted in July attempted to cross through the Arizona desert, despite temperatures exceeding 110ºF.
Immigrant advocacy groups have criticized the expansion of the FERM program.
“The creation of the FERM program is nothing more than the Administration [Biden] playing the game of those who oppose immigration. This program sends asylum-seeking parents and children to deportation through a process so rushed and punitive that it is impossible for them to find attorneys or effectively file their asylum claims,” Heidi Altman, the Center’s policy director, said in a statement. National Immigrant Justice, an immigrant advocacy organization.
“This response is not only embarrassing but unnecessary: The United States has the resources and the capacity to respectfully welcome people who need protection, the Administration just has to put the resources and the political will behind the effort,” he stressed.
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