Advisory Panel Gives McAleenan Slate of Recommendations to Manage Surge of Family Migration
April 17, 2019 Kylie Bull
https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/border-security/hsac-report-on-family-migration-mcaleenan-welcomes-recommendations-as-apprehensions-up-600-percent/
On October 4, 2018, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) to examine the care of families and children in the temporary custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The HSAC, an executive-branch committee formed by a 2002 executive order, created a CBP Family and Child Custody Panel as a subcommittee of the HSAC to “provide findings and recommendations on the best practices of other federal, state and local organizations regarding care for families and children in CBP custody.”
The panel was directed to conduct border visits and interviews to observe and understand CBP’s “unique operating environment and infrastructure,” meet with experts to identify best practices for the processing and care of children in custody, and recommend any needed changes to CBP policies, procedures or training. Since its inception approximately five months ago, the panel increased its membership to include a practicing pediatrician who is a national expert on the maltreatment of children. Overall, the 10-member panel is politically bipartisan and composed of experts in the various areas under review.
HSAC’s emergency interim report, released April 16, says the unprecedented surge in family unit (FMU) migration from Central America is overwhelming U.S. border agencies and the immigration system and that this crisis is endangering children.
“In too many cases, children are being used as pawns by adult migrants and criminal smuggling organizations solely to gain entry into the U.S.,” the report states. Resources are currently absorbed in dealing with this crisis to the detriment of other border security missions, including apprehending migrants illegally seeking to evade detection, such as criminal aliens and those who pose a public safety or national security threat; uncovering instances of trafficking; fraudulent family relationships and other criminal activity among this population; and monitoring the border for drug smuggling and other contraband.
Through its investigations and research the panel found that after being held for several days at inadequate and overcrowded holding areas at U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) stations, most of the adults — provided they have a child with them and have stated that they fear returning to their country of origin — are issued Notices to Appear (NTA) at a later time before an immigration judge somewhere in the U.S. and then dropped at a local bus station or delivered to already overwhelmed nonprofit shelters. The NTA, combined with long delays in the adjudication of asylum claims, means that these migrants are guaranteed several years of living (and in most cases working) in the U.S. Even if the asylum hearing and appeals ultimately go against the migrant, he or she still has the practical option of simply remaining in the U.S. illegally, where the odds of being caught and removed remain very low.
By far, the major “pull factor” is the current practice of releasing with an NTA most illegal migrants who bring a child with them. The crisis is further exacerbated by a 2017 federal court order in Flores v. DHS expanding to FMUs a 20-day release requirement contained in a 1997 consent decree, originally applicable only to unaccompanied children. After being given NTAs, it is estimated that 15 percent of family units or fewer will likely be granted asylum. The current time to process an asylum claim for anyone who is not detained is over two years, not counting appeals.
The panel says CBP will need to reassign an increasing number of officers stationed at ports of entry to assist in handling the surge in FMU migration. Such migrations will continue until the cause is addressed, and the report says such a change requires emergency action by the U.S. government.