On Monday, a House GOP source informed Daily Wire that Congress would be pursuing a fix on the law regarding separating illegal immigrant parents from children at the border. Current policy – as specified by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – states that children with illegal immigrant parents arrested at the border cannot be held in custody for longer than 20 days. People seeking asylum at border points of entry are not separated from children; only those seeking to cross illegally are arrested and separated from children as per the law. The Trump administration, unlike the Obama administration, has not released full families into the general population, the only remaining alternative to separating families.
There are two GOP bills being considered on immigration: the so-called Goodlatte bill, and the compromise bill put forward by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI). According to the House GOP source, “The drafts of both bills clarify the Flores Settlement by ensuring accompanied alien minors apprehended at the border can remain with their parent or legal guardian while in DHS custody. Drafters are also working to include a provision that not only addresses DHS custody but DOJ custody as well.”
Bill text should be filed this week.
Ryan has already signified that he thinks “legislation is necessary.” He explained last week, “We don’t want kids to be separated from their parents. I think I just made that really clear. And we believe, because of the court ruling, this will require a legislative change.”
All this should be easy. But it is unlikely that Democrats will join such legislation, given the media’s irresponsible coverage and the willingness of Democrats to use illegal immigrant children as pawns in an effort to leverage the administration into releasing more illegal immigrant families into the general population.