SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The incoming Trump administration has signaled a return to its previous immigration policies, including family detentions which could put undocumented children in ice detention centers.
“Incoming families seeking asylum will be sent to a facility that is prison-like," said Pedro Rios with the American Friends Service Committee. "That will hold those individuals in their family units until they go through the court system.”
Rios has lobbied against detaining migrants seeking asylum. He says asylum seekers are treated poorly in these facilities and children could be traumatized by the process of being detained.
"When people are fleeing harm, the United States has a responsibility to ensure they're being treated humanely and not caging them up as though they deserve no rights,” Rios said.
President Biden ended family detentions in 2021, closing three I.C.E facilities with around 3,000 beds total. Now, any unaccompanied minors at the border are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The agency sends the child to a sponsor or family member in the U.S. who can take custody of them. They're required to do follow-up welfare checks and immigration hearings, but sometimes the minors or their guardians stop responding. A DHS inspector general report from August showed that I.C.E. was not able to monitor children after they were released.
“We think a significant number of those kids are involved in slave labor or sex trafficking,” said Bill Wells, the Mayor of El Cajon.
Wells says he met with Trump’s top border advisor a few days ago. He believes Tom Homan’s goal with family detentions is to prevent the exploitation of these children.
“If you're going to protect these children, how else are you going to do it other than having a central place where families can be together while you're trying to figure out who’s a family member and who’s a cartel member,” Wells said.
This controversial policy previously led to family separations at I.C.E detention centers. It’s too soon to know whether this time will look different.
