Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met with ICE and CBP officials on Tuesday to review their plans to hold the expected surge of people crossing the southern border in the next few weeks and months. Currently ICE is holding a record breaking 40,000 people in their detention centers but is expecting that number to rapidly increase to 45,000 in the next months, leaving ICE to scramble to find enough space to house the expected detainees.
A main factor for this surge is the increasing number of Haitians taking advantage of Mexico’s 20-day transit document that allows them to reach the U.S. border. According to U.S. officials more than 5,000 Haitians have reached Mexico and are preparing to present themselves at U.S. ports of entry.
After the 2010 earthquake Haiti was granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allowing many Haitians to live and work in the U.S. without being deported. The TPS status expires on July 22, 2017. On Sept. 21 Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, said that agents would resume rapid deportations of Haitians caught at the border.
Deportation flights to Haiti have been temporarily suspended, however, due to the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. ICE will have to hold current and incoming Haitians until the flights can resume.
Read more on this story at The Wall Street Journal.
