ICE Releases Hundreds Of Illegal Immigrants From Detention Centers
ICE is about to release hundreds of illegal immigrants from detention centers in Texas. The move comes as border security and the influx of illegal aliens into the United States is being hotly debated by 2016 presidential candidates. Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, a former Texas governor, has the most hands-on experience dealing with the issue. Perry appears eager to share his plan to secure the border and stop the flow of undocumented immigrants across the Mexican border.
Illegal immigrant “mothers and children” will reportedly be released by ICE “more quickly” due to policy changes recently announced by the Obama administration immigration officials. Instead of paying bonds, the illegal alien women and minors will reportedly be fitted with ankle-monitoring devices.
The Arizona Republic reported the ICE released approximately 200 illegal immigrants from Central America since last Friday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement representative, Richard Rocha, said that going forward ICE will “generally not detain mothers with children” who claim they have a “credible fear of persecution” in their home nations. The women and minors must supply ICE officials with an address and not be deemed either a flight risk or demonstrate a security concern.
Exactly how the ICE officials will know if the women, children, and teenagers are offering a valid name and age remains to be seen. A 20-year-old MS-13 gang member could possibly pass for 17 and not mention his gang affiliation or any past crimes.
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“This is a decision they should have made a long time ago,” said Jonathan Ryan, director of RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. The group offer legal help to illegal immigrants at detention centers in the United States.
Ryan also noted that RAICES volunteers have noticed an increase in the amount of undocumented women and children at the San Antonio bus station since ICE released individuals from two South Texas centers. The director also said the organization has experienced an uptick in the number of illegal immigrants who requested overnight lodging and other assistance.
Juliana Tecu was reportedly one of the illegal aliens released from a Texas detention center. She was interviewed while waiting at a local bus station last week, NewsMax reports. Tecu and her 9-year-0ld daughter entered the United States illegally because she said her ex-husband threatened to kill her. She was held at a center in Dilley, Texas, for 17 days.
The Guatemalan woman was granted a $4,000 bond, which relatives and her son in Los Angeles covered to guarantee her release.
“If I waited up to a month, maybe they would lower it,” Tecu said in Spanish, “But when? I didn’t want to be there.”
According to ICE statistics, a total of 122 illegal immigrants were released from a Karnes City, Texas, detention center. The Dilley center held about 2,000 before the releases began. A similar facility in Pennsylvania is also reportedly releasing detainees.
“ICE and the administration have known all along that family detention doesn’t work. Rather than doing the right thing and bringing it to an end, they have had to slowly back away from the policy to save face at the expense of hundreds, and probably thousands, of women and children,” Ryan added.
While the number of illegal alien women and children at detention centers is expected to continue to drop in the coming weeks, there are no plans to close the facilities. The federal government is reportedly planning on keeping the doors open so new illegal immigrants can be processed.
What do you think about the release of illegal immigrants from the detention centers? Will border security be a major issue in the 2016 presidential campaign?
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