Actually this is a very clever solution if it passes legal challenges.
Via Daily Caller:
The Trump administration is rolling out its own licensing standards for family residential centers, a move that will work around the Flores settlement and mitigate the illegal immigration crisis.
The Department of Homeland Security introduced a new policy Wednesday regarding family residential centers (FRCs) that house immigrant family units. The rule change, the administration argues, will allow DHS to keep families together during their detention while also stemming the flow of illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The Trump administration has established a new rule to respond to the realities of current immigration flows, a rule based on the principle that families should remain together during immigration proceedings,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said during a Monday press conference.
Under the change, the administration will create a “licensing regime” for family residential centers. This will allow immigrant families living in the facilities to remain there longer than the 20-day limit currently established under the Flores settlement, a DHS official said to the Daily Caller News Foundation. By doing this, family units can remain in detention throughout the entire duration of their immigration court proceedings.
There will be two different ways this change can play out.
A state government can establish its own licensing regime for FRCs. Texas attempted to make their own standards, but it has since been bogged down in litigation. If a state is able to do so, however, then family detention centers would abide by their state licensing regime. For states that do not establish rules, then the administration will have the ability to use licensing standards set by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in order to license FRCs.
“The facilities that we will be using to temporarily house families under this rule are appropriately, fundamentally different than the facilities where migrants are processed following apprehension or encounter at the border. They are campus-like settings with appropriate medical, educational, recreational, dining, and private housing facilities,” McAleenan explained.