President Trump signed a memo Friday evening ordering the end of a policy colloquially known as "catch and release," in which some illegal immigrants are not detained while they await asylum or deportation hearings, a process that can take years.
The U.S. only has space to detain 40,000 immigrants at a time, and the order directs the Pentagon to determine whether there are military buildings that could be used for this purpose. It asks Defense Secretary James Mattis to compile "a detailed list of all existing facilities, including military facilities, that could be used, modified, or repurposed to detain aliens for violations of immigration law at or near the borders of the United States."
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