Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
Catch and release (immigration)
In United States immigration enforcement, "catch and release" refers to a practice of releasing migrants to the community while they await hearings in immigration court, as an alternative to holding them in immigration detention.[1][2] The migrants whom U.S. immigration enforcement agencies have allowed to remain in the community pending immigrant hearings have been those deemed low risk,[3] such as children, families, and those seeking asylum.[4]
There is no "hard-and-fast definition" of the phrase,[2] which can be used as a pejorative.[5][6] Rather, the phrase refers to a "collection of policies, court precedents, executive actions and federal statutes spanning more than 20 years, cobbled together throughout Democratic and Republican administrations."[2] The Trump administration has used the phrase as a catch-all term for laws or policies preventing the holding of apprehended migrants in immigration detention.[4]
- ^ Salvador Rizzo, Fact-checking immigration spin on separating families and 1,500 'lost' children, Washington Post (May 30, 2018).
- ^ a b c Salvador Rizzo, President Trump's claim that Democrats created 'catch and release’ policies, Washington Post (April 4, 2018).
- ^ Trump vowed to end 'catch and release,' but on the border, it's business as usual, Los Angeles Times (February 6, 2017).
- ^ a b Dara Lind, "Catch and release," explained: the heart of Trump's new border agenda, Vox (April 9, 2018).
- ^ Jonathan Blitzer, The Border Patrol Was Primed for President Trump, New York Times (February 17, 2017).
- ^ S. C. Gwynne, Walled Off, Texas Monthly (May 2006).
Previous Page Next Page
