Obama Admin 'surge' on immigration enforcement: More detentions and ankle bracelets

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration plans to "surge" its immigration enforcement, open facilities to detain families and provide additional support to Central American governments in response to a massive increase of unaccompanied minors and others crossing the border, officials announced on Friday.

"We are surging our resources to increase our capacity to detain individuals and adults with children, and to handle immigration court hearings," Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security said on a call with reporters. "This will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... to return unlawful migrants from Central America who are ordered removed to their home countries more quickly."

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Mayorkas said decisions about detention are made on a case-by-case basis, but did not provide details about how many families have met the requirement to report to immigration agents after being released. He said that in addition to detention, alternatives like ankle bracelets or parole will be used for families.

Family detention of undocumented immigrants was widely criticized when it was used more commonly. The T. Don Hutto facility in Texas hosted families and was described in 2007 as prison-like, with few services like education or recreation for children. The government announced in 2009 that families will no longer be housed there.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/20/obama-administration-border_n_5515519.html