ICE has arrested 170 immigrants who've stepped forward to potentially sponsor detained migrant kids
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have arrested 170 people who have stepped forward to potentially sponsor migrant children under U.S. custody, escalating an “unprecedented” baiting tactic that began this past fall. The Trump administraICE has arrested 170 immigrants who've stepped forward to potentially sponsor detained migrant kids
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have arrested 170 people who have stepped forward to potentially sponsor migrant children under U.S. custody, escalating an “unprecedented” baiting tactic that began this past fall. The Trump administration already has a record number of migrant kids in detention, including over 2,300 children locked away at a prison camp in Tornillo, Texas. This will make it worse. “The arrests stemmed from background checks done by ICE for the Department of Health and Human Services on potential sponsors for unaccompanied children,” CNN reported. Of the 170 immigrants arrested by ICE, nearly 110 had no criminal record at all. But as administration officials have been doubling-down on sponsors allegedly in the name of children’s safety, they were also waiving background checks for the staffers hired to watch over those very same kids. A government watchdog memo obtained by the Associated Press (AP) last month said “the former director of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement personally signed off on sidestepping requirements for child abuse and neglect checks at the tent city in Tornillo, Texas. None of the 2,100 staff has gone through FBI fingerprint checks either, but the Tornillo contractor says staff are vetted in other ways.” How reassuring. House Democrats will most likely be probing this next year, because it appears that HHS officials lied to them about background checks, telling members that they had conducted proper checks on Tornillo staffers. “The Inspector General’s findings are unacceptable. In the next Congress, we will examine the Administration’s immigration and detention policies and the longstanding damage these policies may have on families and children. Meanwhile, the administration has a record 14,000 migrant children in custody, the vast majority of them minors who came to the U.S. by themselves and were fleeing violence and other dangers. They should be released to sponsors, but instead those sponsors are getting arrested, leading to other sponsors being scared away, leading to children staying in detention longer. It’s a cruel, sick cycle, and it’s trademark Trump. Read more