DHS secretary asks Congress for new authority to send migrant kids to home countries


The Department of Homeland Security is "grappling with a humanitarian and security catastrophe that is worsening by the day," DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wrote in a letter sent to Congress on Thursday, arguing she needs assistance dealing with the surge in migrants at the southern border.
In the letter, obtained by ABC News, Nielsen says the majority of migrants are families and unaccompanied minors "who pose a unique challenge to the system because most cannot be easily cared for, efficiently processed, or expeditiously removed, due to resource constraints and outdated laws."
She requested new legal authority to immediately deport unaccompanied minors to their home countries, ABC reports, and to detain undocumented migrant families together until asylum claims go through. "Now we face a system-wide meltdown," Nielsen wrote. "DHS facilities are overflowing, agents and officers are stretched too thin, and the magnitude of arriving and detained aliens has increased the risk of life-threatening incidents."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Trump-Putin: would land swap deal end Ukraine war?
Today's Big Question Ukraine ready to make 'painful but acceptable' territorial concessions – but it still might not be enough for Vladimir Putin
-
The truth about sunscreen
The Explainer The science behind influencer claims that sun cream is toxic
-
Blue whales have gone silent and it's posing troubling questions
Under the radar Warming oceans are the answer
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures