November 18, 2018

Nominee for ICE director won't back down on family separation

Immigration Impact -Ronald Vitiello, President Trump’s nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement  had a nomination hearing in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

... Throughout the hearing, Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Gary Peters (D-MI) repeatedly pushed Vitiello to accept responsibility for the failures of family separation and the ongoing problems caused by ICE’s detention of families. At every question, Vitiello refused to back down on family separation, painting it as a regretful outcome of asylum-seeking parents’ decision to cross the border illegally.

Vitiello also confirmed that the White House is still considering bringing back family separation. Under a possible new “binary choice” policy, parents would be forced to choose between having their children taken from them and placed with a sponsor or staying in detention with their children indefinitely.

... Vitiello was also grilled about family detention, including DHS’s plan to overturn the Flores settlement to permit the indefinite detention of families and children. He refused to say whether there should be a maximum limit for how long a child should be detained. Despite being presented with a report from the American Association of Pediatrics that detention harms children, Vitiello would not commit to working to limit detention for children. In response, Senator Hassan argued passionately that “we have the capacity in the United States of America to control our borders without harming children.”

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