Senate border bill says non-Mexican children won't be counted in migrant total to trigger mandatory shutdown.

The U.S. Senate's $118 billion border security and foreign aid package includes provisions for unaccompanied minors not originally from Mexico not being counted in the total number of migrant encounters leading to the emergency authority to shut down the border. The bill also provides some unaccompanied minors with attorneys and mandates the Department of Homeland Security to use "mandatory activation" and shut down the border at a seven-day rolling average of 5,000 encounters per day, or 8,500 encounters in a single day. The bill partially ends catch and release, with single adults detained, but families and unaccompanied minors released via ATD (alternatives to detention), and asylum cases fast-tracked to months rather than years under a new rapid/expedited expulsion system.

February 04, 2024
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