Mike Blake/Reuters
❝ Even though hundreds of children separated from their families after crossing the border have been released under court order, the overall number of detained migrant children has exploded to the highest ever recorded — a significant counternarrative to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the number of undocumented families coming to the United States.
Population levels at federally contracted shelters for migrant children have quietly shot up more than fivefold since last summer, according to data obtained by The New York Times, reaching a total of 12,800 this month. There were 2,400 such children in custody in May 2017.
❝ The huge increases, which have placed the federal shelter system near capacity, are due not to an influx of children entering the country, but a reduction in the number being released to live with families and other sponsors…
Or – perish the thought – returned to their own families.
Eideard 
😥😥
‘According to ICE’s FY 2018 budget, on average it costs $133.99 a day to maintain one adult detention bed. But immigration groups have pegged the number closer to $200 a day.
The cost to maintain a family bed, which keeps mothers and children together in a family residential center, costs around $319 a day, according to DHS.
But as of April, children have been separated from their parents with much higher frequency, which has led to the creation of “tent cities” to hold thousands of separated children. Those beds cost $775 per person per night, HHS told NBC News.” https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/cost-us-immigrant-detention-trump-zero-tolerance-tents-cages.html
“According to federal government data, over 60 percent of people are held in privately-run immigrant prisons. For example, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic together detain approximately 15,000 people in immigration detention per day. Also according to federal government data, GEO Group receives more taxpayer dollars for immigration detention than any other ICE contractor. In FY 2017, GEO Group received $184 million, followed by Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic that received $135 million for immigration detention related service obligations. https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-statistics/
“The Department of Homeland Security transferred $169 million from other agencies to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the detention and removal of migrants this year, according to a document sent to Congress by DHS. Many of the transfers came from key national security programs, including $1.8 million from the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, $9.8 million from FEMA, $29 million from the U.S. Coast Guard and more than $34 million from several TSA programs. DHS also transferred $33 million from other ICE programs to pay for detention and removal, making the total amount of money transferred $202 million.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/dhs-transferred-169-million-other-programs-ice-migrant-detention-n909016
“US plans to pay $20 million to help Mexico deport migrants” https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/13/politics/mexico-deportations-funding/index.html
Freedom for Immigrants maintains the most up-to-date map of the U.S. immigration detention system. The map keeps track of the more than 200 immigrant prisons and jails in the U.S. as well as the programs in the visitation network. Click on the map to learn more.
https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-statistics/
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday went after the Trump administration for its failure to consult with Congress before proposing to slash the number of refugees the U.S. will accept next year. Grassley, who’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the administration has a legal obligation to seek counsel from Congress before proposing new caps on refugees. If Trump officials don’t oblige, he warned, Congress will act to force their hand. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/407326-grassley-to-administration-you-must-consult-congress-on-refugee-cap
‘People will die’: Obama official’s stark warning as Trump slashes refugee numbers https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/19/people-will-die-obama-official-warns-after-trump-slashes-refugee-numbers
“Migrant Children Moved Under Cover of Darkness to a Texas Tent City” (NYT Sept. 30) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/us/migrant-children-tent-city-texas.html “These midnight voyages are playing out across the country, as the federal government struggles to find room for more than 13,000 detained migrant children — the largest population ever — whose numbers have increased more than fivefold since last year.”
“The Government Is Moving Migrant Children to a Texas Tent City. Here’s What’s Behind It.” (NYT OCt 1) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/us/migrant-children-tent-city-camp-texas.html
As hundreds of children remain separated from their parents, a damning new report by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General finds that the Department lied for months when it claimed publicly that it developed a “central database” that could be used to reunite families. A new Inspector General report “found no evidence that such a database exists.” The report also found that one-third of the children separated were held in Border Patrol custody for longer than the 72 hours permitted by law, with some held for 8, 9, and even 25 days. https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2018-10/OIG-18-84-Sep18.pdf
“How a Remote Patch of Land Turned Into a Child Migrant Center : The tent camp in Texas was built this month to house unaccompanied migrant children between the ages of 13 and 17. Satellite imagery reveals how it sprouted up and what’s inside.” (NYT June 22, 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8eleB7HSzg See also “The Billion-Dollar Business of Operating Shelters for Migrant Children” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/migrant-shelters-border-crossing.html
The White House is actively considering plans that could again separate parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, hoping to reverse soaring numbers of families attempting to cross illegally into the United States, according to several administration officials with direct knowledge of the effort. (Washington Post Oct 12, 2018) https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/trump-administration-weighs-new-family-separation-effort-at-border/2018/10/12/45895cce-cd7b-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html?utm_term=.55e396832969
One option under consideration is for the government to detain asylum-seeking families together for up to 20 days, then give parents a choice — stay in family detention with their child for months or years as their immigration case proceeds, or allow children to be taken to a government shelter so other relatives or guardians can seek custody.
…The number of migrant family members arrested and charged with illegally crossing the border jumped 38 percent in August and is now at a record level, according to Department of Homeland Security officials.
(1/18/19): Following reports on Thursday that federal officials forcibly separated thousands more migrant children from their families than previously reported, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D.-Ore.) released a document to NBC News revealing the Trump administration intended to “traumatize children and intentionally create a humanitarian crisis at the border.”
The December 2017 draft memo—which Merkley shared with NBC News after receiving it from a government whistleblower—shows that Trump administration officials wanted to deport children more quickly by denying them asylum hearings after taking them away from their parents.
“It appears that they wanted to have it both ways—to separate children from their parents but deny them the full protections generally awarded to unaccompanied children,” concluded ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, who led a class-action lawsuit on behalf of migrant parents. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/18/leaked-memo-reveals-trump-administrations-immoral-plan-traumatize-migrant-children