The Trump Administration is officially ending a program started under President Barack Obama meant to keep vulnerable asylum seekers out of detention. The program was mainly designed to help women and children.
The program was created in 2014 to support a surge of families and unaccompanied minors trying to cross the border. Its mission was to help
“…Families with certain vulnerabilities, including pregnant or nursing family member; those with very young children; family members with medical/mental health concerns; families who speak only indigenous languages; and other special needs.”
By keeping these vulnerable people out of detention centers, the Obama administration could then focus on the deportation of others and give the families a safety net while the government processes their asylum claims.
The Trump administration complains that it incentivizes people entering the U.S. illegally, but advocates of the program argue that it protects the most vulnerable population legitimately looking for U.S. asylum protection.
Processing these claims can often take years.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez said that cutting the program would save the government 12 million dollars. She said that alternatives like ankle monitors, requiring in-person and telephone check-ins and home visits may replace the program.
Archi Pyati disagrees. She is the chief of policy and programs for the Tahirih Justice Center, which protects and advocates for immigrant women and girls fleeing violence. She says that these “alternatives” could create a stigma and unnecessary burden on an already vulnerable population:
“These are women and children we can assume have already experienced untold hardship, violence we can’t even imagine, governments that won’t protect them from rape and trafficking, and they’ve made the arduous journey up to our country and now they are branded with an ankle monitor which makes them seem like criminals, when in fact they are refugees seeking asylum… That is not the way they should be treated.”
But we’re saving 12 million dollars in a budget of almost 4 trillion. How Republican.
Check out this video for more information about who will suffer once the program is gone (after the jump):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLJpFCdHZLs
Featured Image Via YouTube Video.
