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Women’s Commission and FIAC Applaud Government’s Decision to Limit Policy

New York, NY

The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) applaud the Department of Homeland Security’s decision not to expand its program of detaining, without notice, asylum seekers at the conclusion of their immigration proceedings.

According to DHS officials, this program, named “Operation Compliance,” was planned to begin in the Miami, Florida area in October 2004. Federal officials now state that it was determined to be “a poor return on the investment.”

“We are pleased that DHS has chosen not to expand this program to the Miami area,” states Cheryl Little, Executive Director of FIAC. “We are hoping it signals a new commitment by some parts of DHS to provide thoughtful and measured responses when dealing with this already vulnerable population.”

Says Wendy Young, Director of External Relations at the Women’s Commission, “Given DHS’s current budget constraints and the often-devastating impact on an asylum seeker and his or her family when they are detained without warning, we are quite hopeful that we will not see this program continued in any jurisdiction. After all, we are talking about causing additional suffering and worry to a population that has already been harmed in their home country.”