ICE’s Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) Program Puts Families at Risk - As families began to seek refuge in larger numbers, the Biden administration considered jailing them —

Families are rushed to removal within weeks of their arrival to the United States, without a fair opportunity to present their cases, and often without understanding the proceedings unfolding around them. [...] Parents are placed on ankle monitors and restrictive curfews as they struggle to present their claims while navigating a brand new country, finding shelter, and tending to their own and their children’s emergent physical and mental health needs following their arduous journey to find safety. [...] They had never had a chance to speak to a lawyer, and many were Indigenous.” NIJC Attorney Fabiola Villalpando reported: “The ICE officers asserted our clients had agreed to proceed in Spanish, but it was clear after talking to them only briefly that while they could carry on a rudimentary conversation in Spanish, they could not describe the complex and nuanced circumstances of their asylum claims. [...] In the credible fear interview, they didn’t want to rock the boat and feared they would not get to try for asylum at all if they didn’t press forward in Spanish.” *Psuedonym used to protect client’s confidentiality In households where one parent has some Spanish fluency but a second parent does not, this process has outright excluded one of the parents from participating in the interview at all. [...] NIJC and partner organizations have presented numerous and varied solutions to the Biden administration to improve asylum access without jailing or punishing asylum seekers, including enhancing funding, support and coordination with non-governmental organizations providing respite and social and legal services to new arrivals.