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Trump Administration Resurrects Obama-Era ‘Catch and Release’ for Migrants

Families will be released into the U.S. with ankle bracelets, essentially reviving the Obama policy.

The Trump administration announced that it would be releasing “hundreds of migrant families” from detention equipped with ankle bracelets, essentially resurrecting the Obama era “catch and release” policy. According to The New York Times, federal officials said they “could not hold all of the migrant families who were apprehended at the southwestern border.” They also said two court rulings—one limiting child detentions to 20 days and the other not permitting family separations—caught them in a bind. Officials told the newspaper earlier on Tuesday that it would release families with children 5 and younger with ankle bracelets after reunifying them. President Trump previously vowed to end the “catch and release” practice, and his administration insisted that a “zero-tolerance” policy was still in place despite its struggle to detain the children and families separated at the border.