Border patrol agents allegedly authorized to release undocumented migrants into US without court dates

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Eric Gay/AP/Shutterstock (10227016a) Border Patrol agents hold a news conference prior to a media tour of a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary facility near the Donna International Bridge, in Donna, Texas. Officials say the site will primarily be used as a temporary site for processing and care of unaccompanied migrant children and families and will increase the Border Patrol’s capacity to process migrant families Immigration Migrant Tents, Donna, USA – 02 May 2019

Amid the surge of border crossings, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas were authorized on Saturday to start releasing undocumented migrants into the US without giving them court dates.

According to an internal document obtained by NBC News, the move is “intended to mitigate operational challenges, including risks to national security, during significant surges of illegal migration as currently exist in the Rio Grande Valley” by reducing the amount of time immigrants spend in custody. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has typically given all migrants “notices to appear” before they are released or sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention. Some migrants were released without knowing how they would be contacted.

In the document border agents are instructed by CBP to release immigrants without a court date if their facility reaches any one of several criteria, including reaching 100 percent capacity. NBC reported that as of Sunday, 5175 immigrants were in Border Patrol custody in the Rio Grande Valley, where facilities hold 715. Some migrants were asked to provide contact information and given documents with “to be determined” court dates. Other migrants went on without being asked for contact information. The CBP document did not specify how CBP planned to reach out to migrants who weren’t asked for contact information.