Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
March 27, 2023
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and 17 of their Senate colleagues in a letter to President Biden raising concerns over reports the Administration is considering a return to the ineffective and inhumane Trump-era practice of detaining migrant families, after previously putting an end to family detention in December 2021.
“Under both the Obama and Trump Administrations, family detention had disastrous effects on migrant families and children, without any corresponding improvement in border security or deterrence. We urge you to learn from the mistakes of your predecessors and abandon any plans to implement this failed policy,” the Senators wrote.
In the letter, the Senators cite that family detention does not appear to have deterred border crossings. Instead, it has corresponded with an increase in unique encounters of children and individuals in families “by an average of 57 percent per year between 2015 and 2019.” U.S. Border Patrol agents have also reportedly cautioned the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and White House officials that reinstating the Trump-era policy won’t deter border crossings. Additionally, two of DHS’s own medical consultants concluded—after a series of ten investigations during both the Obama and Trump Administrations—that family detention centers posed “a high risk of harm to children and their families.”
“The recent past has taught us that family detention is both morally reprehensible and ineffective as an immigration management tool. We look forward to working closely with your Administration on more thoughtful and humane responses to such challenges,” the Senators concluded.
The Senators also offered alternatives such as case management programs, which have proven far more humane and cost-effective. Congress recently appropriated $20 million dollars to DHS to implement alternatives to detention to ensure that families, children, and other individuals seeking asylum comply with the law, without harming children and families.
In addition to Cortez Masto and Durbin, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) signed the letter.
The first and only Latina Senator and Nevada’s former top law enforcement official, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently worked to pass meaningful immigration reform that balances critical border security measures with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers. She recently reintroduced legislation to make commonsense fixes to our broken immigration system and crack down on notario fraud. She also pushed back strongly against Trump administration efforts to terminate the DACA program and calling on her Senate colleagues to take action in response to ongoing litigation that could threaten its future.
Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:
Dear Mr. President:
We are concerned by reports that your Administration is considering a return to the ineffective and inhumane practice of detaining migrant families. Your Administration was right to put an end to family detention in December 2021. Under both the Obama and Trump Administrations, family detention had disastrous effects on migrant families and children, without any corresponding improvement in border security or deterrence. We urge you to learn from the mistakes of your predecessors and abandon any plans to implement this failed policy.
The Obama Administration restarted the practice of detaining families in 2014, and the Trump Administration continued this policy. We have therefore had ample opportunity to observe the devastating impacts of family detention on the well-being of children. The American Academy of Pediatrics found that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facilities for detaining families did “not meet the basic standards for the care of children in residential settings.” The American Medical Association has long opposed “family immigration detention, separation of children from their parents in detention, and any plans to expand these detention centers” because of “the negative health consequences that detention has on both children and their parents.” Additionally, two of DHS’s own medical consultants concluded—after a series of ten investigations during both the Obama and Trump Administrations—that DHS family detention centers posed “a high risk of harm to children and their families.”
We have also learned that detaining families is ineffective and impractical as an immigration management tool. Family detention does not appear to have deterred desperate families from attempting to come to the United States—instead, the implementation of this policy corresponded with an increase in unique encounters of children and individuals in families “by an average of 57 percent per year between 2015 and 2019.” DHS spent more than $866 million over a three-year period to maintain space to detain just over 3,000 family units per year.
For those who do not pose a threat to our communities or flight risk, alternatives to detention have proven far more humane and cost-effective than detention. For example, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Family Case Management Program had 100 percent attendance at court proceedings for enrollees, and an estimated cost of approximately $36 per person per day, versus approximately $319 per day for an ICE family detention bed. Congress recently appropriated $20 million dollars to DHS to implement such case management programs. These programs ensure that families, children, and other individuals seeking asylum comply with the law, without harming children and families.
We understand that your Administration faces significant challenges—particularly in light of Congressional failure to pass immigration reform—to manage an influx of asylum seekers arriving at our southern border. However, the recent past has taught us that family detention is both morally reprehensible and ineffective as an immigration management tool. We look forward to working closely with your Administration on more thoughtful and humane responses to such challenges.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
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