President Donald Trump asked Congress for funds to massively increase detention of immigrant families, proposing an expansion to up to 30,000 beds.
The White House budget proposal released Friday highlights investments focused on stopping violent crime as the Trump administration aims to pivot from its campaign promise of mass deportations. The proposal touts the plan to operate up to 100,000 beds for adult immigrant detention through the tax cut and spending package Trump signed last year. But it also includes a request to lock up tens of thousands of more parents and children.
During Trump’s second term, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained hundreds of families at the only active immigrant family detention center in Dilley, Texas. The detention center for families first opened in 2014, during then-President Barack Obama’s administration and shuttered under Joe Biden’s presidency.