The last seven months have seen an increase in the number of immigrant fathers from Central America crossing the border into the US with their children, according to BuzzFeed News. A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and human rights activists have since confirmed the increase, claiming it is the result of the attempt to prevent the flow of mothers and children crossing the border, successfully made by the Department of Homeland Security.
Although the Department of Homeland Security would not confirm the number of father-led immigrant families placed in detention in the seven months since March or the number who have since been released, an official did confirm that some have been allowed to go free.
Activists claim that detention facilities do not have the space to keep all the father-led families. The operations director of Southern Arizona’s Catholic Community Services (CCS), Teresa Cavendish, says that while father-led immigrant families crossing the border was once a rarity, they are now seeing as many as mothers with children or pregnant women. The CCS runs shelters that provide short-term accommodation for undocumented immigrants released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Of the 37 families currently held in detention at the Berks Family Residential Center, which is in Leesport, Pennsylvania, 28 of them are father-led, according to an ICE official. Berks is currently the only US detention center that will accept such families.