The Trump administration is employing a new policy in an effort to ramp up deportations of migrant children who arrived in the country without a parent or guardian, according to a CNN report on Wednesday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff were directed to ask children they encounter in immigration enforcement operations if they want to voluntarily depart the country, two unnamed Homeland Security officials told CNN. If the child says yes, they will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. ICE must pick up the child from CBP within 72 hours, or they will be referred to the Health and Human Services Department. Previously, long-standing protocol directed federal authorities to turn over unaccompanied children to HHS care. Under the previous policy, federal agents would only ask children from Mexico or Canada if they wanted to self-deport. “This is a long-standing practice that was used by previous administrations to prioritize getting children back to the safety of a parent or legal guardian in their home country‚” a Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. However, the leader of a children’s advocacy group says the change will harm the most vulnerable people in an attempt to hike up deportation numbers. “A child is in no position to understand the consequences of self-deporting, particularly without the guidance of an attorney,” Neha Desai, managing director of Children’s Human Rights at the National Center for Youth Law, told the network.
The post ICE Sets Its Sights on a New Target in Deportation Drive appeared first on The Daily Beast