After a week of increasingly aggressive statements regarding border security and immigration, President Donald Trump ordered his administration on Friday to find new ways to put an end to the “catch and release” policy when it comes to undocumented immigrants who are eligible to be deported from the United States.
Trump sent a memo to the heads of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Defense and State ordering them to create a new series of reports outlining measures that can be taken to further toughen their approach to illegal immigration.
The memo did not give any direction regarding what policy steps should be taken. Instead, it reiterated previous instructions that the President gave in his early days in office while highlighting Trump’s frustration at the inability of Congress to pass any major legislation pertaining to border control or immigration and the ongoing refusal by lawmakers to provide funding for his wall on the border between the United States and Mexico.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement alongside the memo saying that the document orders a number of “important steps” that need to be taken, accusing Democrats of preventing further action while emphasizing that Trump’s highest priority is the security and safety of Americans.
The “catch and release” policy sees many undocumented immigrants ending up living in the United States for many years due to the massive backlog in the immigration court system and the capacity to hold only 40,000 immigrants in detention at any one time.