INS Revives Detention Policy for Illegal Aliens in Texas

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, citing a need to “defend this border,” on Wednesday revived its highly controversial policy of placing illegal aliens seeking political asylum in a remote detention center here.

Under the plan, the aliens, mostly Central Americans, will be apprehended and brought to the tent camp for an immediate determination as to whether they qualify for political asylum. If they do not meet the INS’ rigorous standard, they can then be quickly deported.

The announcement was made by INS Commissioner Gene McNary at the end of a tour of the detention facilities here.

The immigration chief said that six large tents had been set up on the grounds of the detention center, enough to house 2,500 detainees. He said that as many as 10,000 people could be held at the compound.

“We are going to enforce the laws concerning the border,” McNary said. “We are here to stay. We are going to defend this border.”

McNary said illegal border crossings had been gradually increasing over the last several months. The U.S. Border Patrol said that 1,860 illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico were apprehended in January, up from 829 in October.

McNary, who has been INS commissioner for three months, is essentially re-implementing a program used last winter when large numbers of Central Americans, especially Nicaraguans, were applying for political asylum in South Texas. The INS contended then that the majority of those seeking asylum were not being persecuted in their homeland because of their political beliefs and wanted only to come to the United States to improve their standard of living.

The detention program was challenged in court by refugee groups, who charged that it was inhumane and violated a 1980 law enacted by Congress to ensure the rights of those seeking asylum. The INS eventually won the case.

The INS appeared to be moving away from the policy later in 1989. As late as last week, the INS was allowing a number of refugees at the detention center to leave without posting bond, so long as they could prove they had a relative to stay with and promised to return for their hearing. McNary himself had ordered that the detention center population be decreased to 668 inmates.

“The most interesting thing about the policy announcement is that it appeared the INS was moving in the exact opposite direction,” said Robert Rubin, a member of the San Francisco Lawyers’ Committee for Urban Affairs, which has taken an active role in defending refugees. “Mr. McNary in fact said that the releases in South Texas were caused, among other things, by a budgetary crunch. It’s strange that two weeks later it’s changing.”

Sister Juliana Garcia of the Casa Romero Refugee Center, outside the South Texas city of Brownsville, said Wednesday that the number of people seeking assistance there had fallen off considerably since the INS began its policy of lowering the population of the detention center. She said that refugees would instead turn themselves into the Border Patrol confident that they would only be detained a few days before being sent on their way.

“All the information gets to the people very very soon,” she said. “I guess the people in Miami are telling their relatives in Central America that there is amnesty in Texas.” McNary’s announcement in Texas appeared to be an attempt by the INS to stem the tide and send out word that there would be no easy way to enter the country and then disappear.

McNary said that anyone apprehended will be processed in a single day and a decision will be made immediately about whether the illegal alien will be allowed to apply for political amnesty.

To obtain political asylum in the United States, refugees “must be able to show a well-founded fear of persecution and that they are not just coming here to get a job,” he said.

McNary said that $11 million had been allocated for the detention program, a figure that seemed somewhat low. Last year, the INS was about $50 million over budget and much of that red ink was because of the South Texas campaign to detain those crossing the border illegally.