“Or are we to create little family pods, totally separate from any other detainees?”

From the stories that I have read on this issue, Adult couples and even larger family groups are being kept together, only the minor children are being segregated. That would means that ICE already has some form of family housing in its detention facilities.

True, but in such cases, the children are generally not in government custody at all, and are certainly not in custody for the same reasons as the parents. The government also doesn’t, as normal procedure, actively prevent contact between adult citizens in custody and their minor children.

I read an article the other day in re what Hungary apparently does. Their border fence is set back 100 yards from the actual border. The illegal immigrants are released into that strip between the fence and the actual border. They haven’t been “deported”, therefore, no hearing required. Hmmmmmmmm……

In general, of course, citizens who commit crimes are separated from their children.

Saying that it’s wrong and abusive for ICE to separate minors from their parents (when parents and minors are taken into custody together) and hold them in separate locations is not holding our laws hostage to anything or anyone. No one is saying that they should just be released.

Minors who show up at the border without an adult relative (and from what I’ve read, many of the 1500 kids that are missing fall into this category) are a different matter.