New GOP plan: Hold kids longer at border – but with parents
Republicans on Capitol Hill frantically searched on Tuesday for ways to end the Trump administration’s policy of separating families after illegal border crossings, with the focus shifting on a new plan to keep children in detention longer than now permitted – but with their parents.
House GOP leaders are revising their legislation amid a public outcry over the administration’s “zero tolerance” approach to illegal crossings. The change would loosen rules that now limit the amount of time minors can be held to 20 days, according to a GOP source familiar with the measure. Instead, the children could be detained for extended periods – alongside their parents.
House Republicans scrambled to update their approach ahead of a visit from President Donald Trump to discuss a broader immigration overhaul that is to be voted on this week. Trump called for Congress to approve the so-called third option on Tuesday.
“We want to solve this problem,” he said.
Trump’s meeting at the Capitol comes as lawmakers in both parties are up in arms after days of news reports showing images of children being held at border facilities in cages and an audio recording of a young child pleading for his “Papa.”
The issue boiled over Tuesday at a House hearing on an unrelated subject when protesters with babies briefly shut down proceedings.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, pleaded with Republicans on the panel to end what he called “internment camps.”
“We need you, those children need you -and I am talking directly to my Republican colleagues- we need you to stand up to President Donald Trump,” he said.
Under the current policy, all unlawful crossings are referred for prosecution – a process that moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation.
More than 2,300 minors were separated from their children at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The House is already embroiled in an election-year struggle over immigration legislation that threatens to hurt Republicans at the polls in November.
Democrats have seized on the family separation issue, demanding that the administration end the separations. Republicans are increasingly worried about the problem.
Top conservatives, including key Trump allies, have introduced bills to stop the practice. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas introduced legislation that the White House said it was reviewing, and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus, also introduced a measure.
“While cases are pending, families should stay together,” tweeted Cruz, who is in an unexpectedly tough re-election battle. He introduced his own bill to speed up court proceedings to no more than 14 days. “Children belong with their families,” he said.
“We need you, those children need you – and I am talking directly to my Republican colleagues- we need you to stand up to President Donald Trump.’’
U.S. Rep.Elijah Cummings