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Immigration

White House won't confirm or deny reinstating migrant family detention

The COVID-era border restrictions, often referred to as Title 42, are set to end May 11.

White House won't confirm or deny reinstating migrant family detention
Evan Vucci / AP
By Andrea Diaz
SMS
March 8, 2023

The White House is reportedly considering once again detaining migrant families who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

This is something President Joe Biden has criticized the former administration for doing and would be a major reversal of the policies President Biden has put in place.

Back in 2021, the United States stopped holding families in detention facilities, and President Biden said he wanted a more "humane" method of dealing with migrants.

But as more migrants cross into the U.S. seeking asylum, the White House is working to restrict entries.

The COVID-era border restrictions, often referred to as Title 42, are set to end May 11. Those restrictions allowed immigration officials to expel arriving migrants from the border without a screening for asylum on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Migrants wait to be processed after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not deny that family detentions would pick back up again, but she declined to comment on the "rumors" surrounding the reports.

"I’m not saying it’s being considered. But I’m not saying it is, and I’m not saying it is not," said Jean-Pierre.

Additionally, she responded to claims that the action was a reversal of former President Donald Trump’s policies.

"A lot of people have compared what the President is doing as either extending what Trump did or being very Trump-like, and I just want to make sure that that is not — that is not what is happening here," said Jean-Pierre.

Jean-Pierre also clarified that the Department of Homeland Security is working through ways to move forward once Title 42 is lifted, as an increase of migrants at the border is expected.