Hillary Clinton took shots at the Trump administration in a tweet Wednesday, warning that the administration’s pro-citizen immigration policies will effectively cause “more tragedy.”
“In the last 24 hours, the administration has announced: – They will seek the power to detain migrant children indefinitely – They won’t provide flu shots to families in detention Six children have already died, three in part from the flu,” she tweeted.
“This is a recipe for more tragedy,” she added.
Clinton’s claims, however, are gross generalizations of the actual policies outlined and considered.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that it does not typically provide flu shots to migrants in its facilities, partially due to the “short-term nature of [the] CBP holding” process. However, CBP confirmed that the children do, in fact, receive flu vaccinations after transitioning to Health and Human Services (HHS) custody.
“In general, due to the short term nature of CBP holding and the complexities of operating vaccination programs, neither CBP nor its medical contractors administer vaccinations to those in our custody,” a CBP spokesperson told the Hill:
Once children leave CBP detention centers and are transferred to HHS, they are given full medical screenings upon arrival, as well as any needed vaccinations, including the seasonal flu vaccine, an agency spokesperson said.
As for Clinton’s second claim, it is true that the Trump administration is seeking to end the 20-day limit on family detainment. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin K. McAleenan says the move will help end “catch and release”– one of Trump’s key promises.
“What this will do is to substantially increase our ability to end the ‘catch and release’ challenges that have fueled this crisis,” McAleenan said Wednesday, adding that it “restores integrity to our immigration system”:
As Breitbart News extensively reported:
The regulation replaces the so-called Flores court decision, made in 2015 by Democrat-nominated Californian Judge Dolly Gee. Her decision has enabled more than 433,000 poor “family unit” migrants to walk through the border wall since 2018, and then into blue-collar Americans’ jobs, rental markets, and K-12 schools.
Wealthy progressives welcome this huge inflow, partly because it provides them with a new wave of cheap, compliant, and grateful workers to service their restaurants, clean their houses, and trim their lawns – without intruding into their suburbs or their childrens’ schools.
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The Flores decision broke the border because it forces officials to release migrants who bring children migrants just 20 days after they are caught at the border. But migrants can delay their deportations for more than 20 days by asking for asylum. This two-sided loophole leaves officials with no choice but to release the asylum-claiming migrants who are supposed to eventually face asylum hearing in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, or whatever city the migrants say they will live.
DHS’s announcement reads in part:
Large numbers of alien families are entering illegally across the southern border, hoping that they will be released into the interior rather than detained during their removal proceedings. Promulgating this rule and seeking termination of the FSA are important steps towards an immigration system that is humane and operates consistently with the intent of Congress.
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“Today, the government has issued a critical rule that will permit the Department of Homeland Security to appropriately hold families together and improve the integrity of the immigration system,” said Acting Secretary McAleenan. “This rule allows the federal government to enforce immigration laws as passed by Congress and ensures that all children in U.S. government custody are treated with dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability.”
However, the proposal must get approval from a federal judge before its implementation, and it is expected to face legal challenges.