Obama regime still practicing catch and release.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will face an immigration system that is maxed out when he takes office in January as a high number of Central Americans and Haitians continue to come to the U.S. through the Mexican border.
Resources to process the immigrants, detain them and to try their immigration cases in court are extremely strained.
Now, federal officials say they are releasing Haitian immigrants who have been entering the country in large numbers, backtracking on a pledge to jail them before they are deported.
A U.S. government official told The Associated Press that the decision to free Haitians arriving in Arizona and California is in response to a lack of jail space. The official said releasing immigrants with orders to report later to immigration court is a tactic used when detention space is scarce, under certain humanitarian conditions or as part of efforts to keep families together.
Before the Haitians are released, they are subjected to a criminal background and national security check. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on speaking on condition of anonymity.
Federal immigration officials announced Thursday they are opening a large processing facility in west Texas next week in an effort to deal with the large number of families and young children coming through the border. The facility in Tornillo, outside of El Paso, can hold up to 500 people and will be up and running by next week, officials say.
The influx of migrants and lack of jail space on the border will be one of the most immediate immigration challenges for Trump.
Among the issues Trump will face is growing opposition to conditions at Border Patrol holding cells and ICE detention centers.
For example, the Border Patrol in Arizona faces a lawsuit from immigrants who say its holding cells are overcrowded, dirty and extremely cold. A federal judge in Tucson on Tuesday said he was inclined to direct the Border Patrol to improve sleeping conditions, although he hasn’t issued a directive yet.
Immigrants who enter through Texas also report that Border Patrol holding facilities – known as “hieleras” – the Spanish word for “freezers,” are difficult to sleep in. CBP has said it is “committed to the safety, security and welfare of those in our custody, especially those who are most vulnerable.”