US to Reduce Detention of Immigrant Families

HOUSTON (AP) – U.S. immigration authorities will no longer use a small Pennsylvania detention center to hold parents and children seeking asylum. In a court filing Friday, the U.S. government said it had released all families detained at the 96-bed Berks County family detention center in Leesport, Pennsylvania. The detention center will instead be used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold adults. Larger family detention centers in two rural South Texas cities remain open, but will only be used to detain people for three days or less. Lawyers who work with detained immigrant families welcomed the news and credited the Biden administration for announcing the shift.