ICE Shutters Detention Alternative for Asylum-Seekers

Frank Bajak, Associated Press, June. 9, 2017 - "The Trump administration is shutting down the least restrictive alternative to detention available to asylum-seekers who have entered the U.S. illegally, The Associated Press has learned.

Immigration activists consider the move a callous insult to migrants fleeing traumatic violence and poverty — nearly all the program’s participants are Central American mothers and children — by a White House that has prioritized deportations that break up families over assimilating refugees.

“This is a clear attempt to punish mothers who are trying to save their children’s lives by seeking protection in the United States,” said Michelle Brane of the nonprofit Women’s Refugee Commission. “I think it’s crazy they are shutting down a program that is so incredibly successful.”

The overwhelming majority of asylum-seekers that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spares confinement at family detention centers — about 70,000 —have been placed in an intrusive “intensive supervision” program as they await court hearings on whether they can stay in the U.S."