Migrants

The deportation of migrants is once again in the news and it is politics disguised as compassion. According to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, more than 12 million people were “deported” – either removed or returned – from the US during the Clinton administration. More than 10 million were removed or returned during the Bush administration. Far fewer – more than 5 million – were removed or returned during the Obama administration Deputy Director, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project The Obama administration doubled down on one of its worst immigration legacies: the return and expansion of family detention. Responding to a court order holding that its family detention camps violated the 1997 Flores settlement agreement, the Obama administration Friday again defended family detention as necessary to send a message to Central American families that they are not welcome here—even though it concedes that most of them are fleeing persecution. The Obama administration now argues that it needs to detain families in order to speedily deport those who are initially found ineligible for relief. Fact check The Obama administration did build the cages Trump alluded to. The facility Trump mentioned was built with chain-link fencing by the Obama administration in 2014 in a warehouse in Nogales, Ariz. The makeshift shelter was built in response to an exodus of unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America.