On the Border: Top Officials Considering Separating Children From Parents, Implementing Travel Restrictions

There are currently talks in President Donald Trump’s administration to implement new travel restrictions on people from countries with large numbers of citizens that tend to overstay short-term visas, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to top officials in the administration, there are many ideas being floated to try and appease Trump’s increasing ire about the influx of migrants fleeing violence in their countries and asking for asylum at the border.

The ideas include shutting down the southern border, resuming separating children from their parents and doubling down on visa overstays (which exceed illegal border crossings). There are also plans for initial “credible fear” interviews to be done by border patrol agents with the thinking that they will be less sympathetic than asylum officers.

Officials may also raise asylum standards, alter the court system so that the last people in are the first to have their cases adjudicated and targeting the remittance payments sent home by people working in the country illegally.

White House aide Stephen Miller has been pressuring Homeland Security officials hard to punish legal immigrants in the country for using public benefits, such as food stamps.

Trump has tweeted about his grand plan to send migrants to sanctuary cities for “revenge” against his perceived Democratic foes, although lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security told the White House that the idea was unfeasible and would misuse U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds.

The idea would likely help migrants by placing them in cities that make it easier for them to build lives and also help those locations economically, as cities with more immigrants tend to fare better. The New American Economy’s Cities Index showed that the highest scores in the NAE Cities Index tend to fall into three different profiles: cities that are rebounding as immigrants bring skills and entrepreneurial spirit, cities that are immigrant hubs and cities that are immigrant gateways.

Trump complained about the border in Minnesota on Monday and said that the immigration issue could be a winning one for Republicans in the 2020 presidential election, even though more moderate Republicans have

On Monday, Democrats told the White House to hand over documents that discussed the plan to send migrants to sanctuary cities.

“Not only does the administration lack the legal authority to transfer detainees in this manner, it is shocking that the president and senior administration officials are even considering manipulating release decisions for purely political reasons,” read a letter signed by three House committee chairmen.

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