The Trump administration asked customs and border protection this week to offer migrant adolescents the opportunity to return voluntarily to their country of origin, instead of being sent to shelters against the government, to upset the long -standing American immigration policy, two American officials said on Wednesday.
For many years, US immigration officials have been required to transfer all unaccompanied migrant children – or those who have entered the United States without authorization and their legal parents or tutors – to the Ministry of Health and Social Services, if they were from countries outside of Mexico and Canada. HHS supervises a network of shelters where these minors are hosted until they are 18 years old or can be placed with a sponsor, which has historically been a parent based in the United States.
But now, CBP officials have been responsible for offering unaccompanied migrant children who are 14 years old or over the possibility of dismissing themselves to their country of origin, officials said. If adolescents take this option, American immigration officials would facilitate their rapid return to their country of origin. Otherwise, adolescents would always be transferred to the HHS refugee resettlement office.
This voluntary starting policy was previously limited to unaccompanied children from Canada and Mexico. An anti-work law of 2008, the law on the re-authorization of the protection of victims of the trafficking, provided special legal protections to migrant children of “non-contiguous” countries, in particular those responsible for the rapid expulsion of these minors.
The Ministry of Internal Security said the new authorities In the expenses of one Big Beautiful Bill Act, allowed the Trump administration to modify the policy.
“This is a long -standing practice used to prioritize the return of children to the safety of a parent or a legal tutor in their country of origin and is accredited in the law on the re -authorization of prevention and protection of victims on the trafficking of 2022,” said DHS in a press release.
“The only change in accordance with the major bill is extended to this option to return home to the UACs in additional countries beyond Mexico and Canada,” added the ministry.
The change of policy was reported for the first time by Cnn.
We do not know how many migrant adolescents will be affected by the recent directive. The number of migrants illegally crossing the South American border immersed at levels not seen since the 1960s In the midst of the repression of the Trump administration. In June, for example, Border Patrol apprehended 6,000 migrants on the American-Mexican border, a record monthly hollow which included less than 700 unaccompanied children.
Administration has Grounds aggressively towards offset Immigrants living in the United States illegally or whose legal status has been revoked, increasing operations to stop, hold and expel them.
But it’s also launched a massive push Encourage unauthorized immigrants to self-partner, offering them a $ 1,000 self-deposit bonus and threatening them with arrest, fines and prosecution if they remain in the United States illegally.
