Border Patrol seeks to expand program to remove illegal immigrants
Agency hopes to win approval from Homeland Security higher-ups to boost expedited removal efforts within weeks.
The Border Patrol plans to expand a program that more quickly removes migrants from the United States who are caught illegally trying to cross the border, according to the agency's chief.
Chief David Aguilar told Government Executive he hopes to begin using expedited removal at more Border Patrol stations within the coming weeks. He said he is waiting on final approval to expand the program from the Homeland Security Department.
"I feel confident that we're going to move forward," he said. "You'll be hearing something very quickly."
The Border Patrol launched expedited removal nine months ago at its sectors in Tucson, Ariz., and Laredo, Texas. The process allows migrants who are caught illegally entering the country, and who do not have criminal records and do not pose a threat to national security, to be more quickly processed and returned to their home countries. The process reduces the time they are held in U.S. detention centers from more than 80 days to an average of 26 days.
The program also limits the number of non-Mexicans who are released into the U.S. population. Currently, non-Mexican migrants are sent to centers operated by DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. From there, most are given a notice to appear in court and released into the U.S. population. Most never make their court appearances.
The Border Patrol predicts it will catch about 150,000 non-Mexicans by the end of this fiscal year. That's about 12 percent of all apprehensions, and represents a 200 percent increase over 2004. Last year, the majority of non-Mexicans came from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil and the Dominican Republic.
Aguilar said the holdup in expanding the expedited removal program has been ensuring ICE has enough detention space. While the program ultimately removes illegal immigrants from the country, they first have to be held in detention centers.
"Part of it is that, once a Border Patrol agent places an alien into ER, there's a need for mandatory detention," Aguilar said. "We need to ensure that, as we evolve, mandatory detention capability is synchronized with our roll-out. Those are things we're working on right now."
He added: "It's not a matter of just expanding ER. It's all the logistics attached to it to ensure that the program is managed correctly."