There's a lot of persistent confusion about asylum and asylum-seekers at the moment. Some of that has to do with new and stringent rules under Trump that folks don't fully understand. Some of that has to do with Obama-era practices that people didn't pay attention to. A thread.
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Separating children from parent(s) en masse is new. In the past, families could be released, or they could be put in ICE family detention while their claims were processed. That's not the case anymore.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/children-immigration-borders-family-separation.html?pagewanted=all …
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Separating children and parents at the border is currently only happening to those caught crossing the border without authorization -- not to those who claim asylum at ports of entry. (But make sure to see above for what's happening before people even reach those ports.)
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ORR is for unaccompanied minors. ICE is for accompanied minors. ORR must, by law, place children in what's called a least restrictive setting. Once a child in ORR turns 18, they're transferred to ICE, which is also supposed to place them in the least restrictive setting.
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Since the government is essentially turning accompanied minors into unaccompanied minors, ORR is now placing children who've been separated from their parents. This is new. We'll see how long ORR puts up with this.
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Military bases are going to house children. I've learned that 3 in Texas have been approved and are being prepped for children. One in Arkansas is awaiting approval. Housing kids on military bases isn't new. Here's an article from when Obama was president:http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-port-hueneme-immigrant-children-shelter20140612-story.html …
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Mexican children are pretty much deported right away. Central American children can be held up to 72 hours by Border Patrol. Many say they're kept in hieleras, or ice boxes. I've been reporting on ice boxes for more than a decade. Here's a video from 2014:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpmHXL18wyY …
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Border Patrol turns children who aren't Mexican over to ORR. Traditionally, ORR reunited kids and parents. That's changed very suddenly. Those parents will now be fingerprinted and have their immigration status checked. This is new and merits attention.http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article212845719.html …
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There's a lot more happening. Some of it is new. Some of it is old. A lot of it is just a brand-new way of doing the same old thing. Everything I just tweeted could change tomorrow. Too much at once can be confusing... but that's how this system operates.
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