Where do you put over 40,000 illegals?
Generally, once migrants are processed, they're handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has a limited capacity of how many migrants it can hold at a given time.
The shutdown-ending spending bill last month included funding for an average 45,274 detentions beds per day, with the intent to return to 40,520 by the end of the fiscal year.
Given the influx of migrants at the border, the agency has to reckon with an increased demand for beds.
As of March 4, for example, the average number of ICE detainees was 46,496 -- the highest on record since the beginning days of the agency in 2003, according to ICE.
"There's no beds," said John Sandweg, who previously served as the acting director of ICE under the Obama administration. "They're definitely strained right now."
That's based on the perception on that all migrants need to be detained, Sandweg added. Trump has decried the alternative of releasing migrants until their immigration court dates.
At the current rate of apprehensions, detention beds are likely to get filled faster. In February alone, more than 76,000 people were apprehended crossing illegally or without proper papers, the highest number of "encounters" in any February in the last 12 years, according to CBP.
Of the 76,000, 7,250 were unaccompanied children and 40,385 were people who came with family members, marking a significant shift in the migrant population and as a result, posing a unique set of challenges.
In previous years, single adult males from Mexico who could quickly be returned made up the majority of apprehensions.
The Health and Human Services Department is responsible for the care of unaccompanied children and as a result, they, too, are feeling the pressures of the influx of migrants. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the agency plans to move $385 million in fiscal year 2019 funding for the unaccompanied alien children program.
The President's latest budget proposal includes $2.7 billion for 54,000 beds , setting up a confrontation between Republicans and Democrats, who pushed back against the administration's previous request of 52,000 beds.
Massive backlog in immigration courts
The US has a separate court system within the Justice Department -- which is overseen by the Executive Office for Immigration Review -- for adjudicating immigration cases.
In recent years, the office has had to contend with a historic backlog of pending cases.
EOIR Director James McHenry told lawmakers earlier this month that there are around 850,000 pending cases, marking what appears to be the largest backlog since the creation of the agency in 1983.
A spending bill passed by Congress last month included funding for 75 new immigration judges, which is in line with the administration's ask and allocates $7.4 million for additional attorneys and for courtroom expansion to assist with cases currently in the system. Trump's budget proposal ups the request to 100 new "immigration judge teams."
As of March 5, there are 427 immigration judges nationwide, according to EOIR. That is expected to increase to roughly 450 next month.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/17/politics/trump...index.html
Generally, once migrants are processed, they're handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has a limited capacity of how many migrants it can hold at a given time.
The shutdown-ending spending bill last month included funding for an average 45,274 detentions beds per day, with the intent to return to 40,520 by the end of the fiscal year.
Given the influx of migrants at the border, the agency has to reckon with an increased demand for beds.
As of March 4, for example, the average number of ICE detainees was 46,496 -- the highest on record since the beginning days of the agency in 2003, according to ICE.
"There's no beds," said John Sandweg, who previously served as the acting director of ICE under the Obama administration. "They're definitely strained right now."
That's based on the perception on that all migrants need to be detained, Sandweg added. Trump has decried the alternative of releasing migrants until their immigration court dates.
At the current rate of apprehensions, detention beds are likely to get filled faster. In February alone, more than 76,000 people were apprehended crossing illegally or without proper papers, the highest number of "encounters" in any February in the last 12 years, according to CBP.
Of the 76,000, 7,250 were unaccompanied children and 40,385 were people who came with family members, marking a significant shift in the migrant population and as a result, posing a unique set of challenges.
In previous years, single adult males from Mexico who could quickly be returned made up the majority of apprehensions.
The Health and Human Services Department is responsible for the care of unaccompanied children and as a result, they, too, are feeling the pressures of the influx of migrants. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the agency plans to move $385 million in fiscal year 2019 funding for the unaccompanied alien children program.
The President's latest budget proposal includes $2.7 billion for 54,000 beds , setting up a confrontation between Republicans and Democrats, who pushed back against the administration's previous request of 52,000 beds.
Massive backlog in immigration courts
The US has a separate court system within the Justice Department -- which is overseen by the Executive Office for Immigration Review -- for adjudicating immigration cases.
In recent years, the office has had to contend with a historic backlog of pending cases.
EOIR Director James McHenry told lawmakers earlier this month that there are around 850,000 pending cases, marking what appears to be the largest backlog since the creation of the agency in 1983.
A spending bill passed by Congress last month included funding for 75 new immigration judges, which is in line with the administration's ask and allocates $7.4 million for additional attorneys and for courtroom expansion to assist with cases currently in the system. Trump's budget proposal ups the request to 100 new "immigration judge teams."
As of March 5, there are 427 immigration judges nationwide, according to EOIR. That is expected to increase to roughly 450 next month.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/17/politics/trump...index.html
