The Trump administration will no longer allow migrant families apprehended at the border to enter the U.S. under the immigration policy commonly known as “catch and release.”
The policy change was announced Monday by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
“With some humanitarian and medical exceptions, DHS will no longer be releasing family units from Border Patrol Stations into the interior,” McAleenan said in his prepared remarks. “This means that for family units, the largest demographic by volume arriving at the border this year, the court-mandated practice of catch and release due to the inability of DHS to complete immigration proceedings with families detained together in custody — will have been mitigated.”
In a statement issued by DHS, the agency outlined how it intends to carry out its new policy starting next week.
“If migrant family units do not claim fear of return, they will be quickly returned to their country of origin, in close collaboration with Central American countries,” the statement read. “If they do claim fear, they will generally be returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).”