Secretary mcaleenan good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss the important action the ministration is going to combat thisrisis at our border, year, we have seen and precedented flow of family units from Central America coming to our southwest corner. During the first 10 months, customs and Border Protection apprehended 470 5000 families. 90 crossed the border unlawfully. Three times more than any previous full year of record. Sawhe month of may we 88,630 family members arrive at the border, four times the record amounts. As i have testified multiple times and has experts and leaders have explained, the driving factor is our Legal Framework for immigration. Human smugglers advertise and migrants know well that even if theyve crossed the border illegally, arriving with a child means that they will be released into the United States to wait for Court Proceedings. Frameworkap in our comes from our 2015 reimport reinterpretation of the florida Settlement Agreement, in agreement two decades old. This reinterpretation, which applied for the first time the requirements for accompanied minors has forced labor govern force the government to release families into the country and incentivizes incentivizes legal proceedings. Has single ruling substantially caused and continues to fuel this family unit crisis and the unprecedented flow of families and minors crossing our border. Work,nearly two years of consideration of over 100,000 comments from stakeholders and members of the comment of the public, and a comprehensive review, the Trump Administration has made a new rule, based on principle that family should remain together during immigration proceedings. While the agreement is operationally outdated and does not respond to the current crisis, it has many important aspects like the need for special protections for children and High Standards for government facilities that were adopted as defining features. Extensive rule, but i want to highlight four key elements. First, it permanently establishes dandridge of care and custody for children and families. These are high, and in doing so it fulfills one of the original purposes of the 1997 Settlement Agreement to ensure appropriate care for all children. The National Standard of care ensures that care and custody of children and families is not a policy decision and should not be subject to state and local politics. All children in government care will be university treated universally treated with concern and faithful to the intent of the original settlement. The facilities that we will be using to temporarily house families are appropriately and different than the facilities where migrants are processed. Like settingss with appropriate dining and private housing facilities. For example, the first center in pennsylvania has suites for each family is housed separately. Toiletries are provided. There is a Community Living room with a bigscreen television, a gaming area and a library that contains books, other Television Sets and boardgames. The facility has an entire wing dedicated to classroom learning where minors go to school five days a week. Another wing is a medical facility where they receive medical care including immunizations required to later admission to u. S. Public schools. There are phone banks to call relatives or other representatives. Residential centers, three meals are provided and snacks are available. All of our three Residential Centers offer a variety of outdoor and indoor recreation activities for children and result an adult including sports, Group Exercise classes, arts and crafts classes and seasonal Holiday Themed activities. Recreational facilities include soccer fields and play structures. They have video set up for Court Hearings and private rooms to meet with representatives. Childcare is provided while parents meet with our attorneys or attend hearings. Interpreting services are available by telephone. Attorneys and representatives approved to appear at Court Hearings are provided access to the residents at various times each week. This enables family to obtain counsel and not have to appear as respondents. They are temporary housed in facilities appropriate for their wellbeing. Thend, the new rule closes legal loophole that arose from the reinterpretation which congress has refused to do allowing the government to house Families Together during fair proceedings that was done by the Previous Administration. Prior to the 2015 court ruling that restricted our use of the frcs, immigrations procedings lasted less than 50 days. Thoseftly repatriated with meritless claims who have comprised a substantial majority of families being processed. Provide anmains to expeditious immigration result together,ing families which benefits legitimate asylumseekers. The Current System serves those with meritless lames and leaves migrants in the state of limbo for years. The majority of families who filed for removal have been issued in absentia, over 85 . This rule changes that dynamic. The result of holding Families Together under the Previous Administration was a dramatic reduction in the flow of a lawful crossings. Unlawful crossings. The direct and predictable result has been two family crises at the border, first at 2016 and unprecedented levels this year. It will restore humane procedures. Third, by closing this loophole, the rule will in will restore the integrity of our immigration system. It will eliminate the crisis. This year has brought record volumes of families, and in the first months of the fiscal year, u. S. Customs and Border Protection has observed a 49 increase in families apprehended. This years increase is dramatic and family apprehensions have increased at an annual average of 72 . Flores wasfore reinterpreted, the total number of families was 14,875. By august we have already seen more than 475,000 families apprehended. By eliminating the incentive to make the journey as a family, the rule will reduce the volume that is training are already limited resources and put children at risk. The scale of the crisis has ared us to ask amount lot from our Border Patrol agents and they have stepped up. It presides it provides them with welldeserved relief and allows them to dedicate their resources and time. Rule will protect children by reducing incentives for adults, including humans draw smugglers to exploit minors, using them to beat the system and be released into the United States. Far, we have identified 6000 migrants who have been fraudulently presented as members of family. Conductedions have two Pilot Testing programs that have identified dozens of cases in which children have no familial relations to the adults that have claimed that. In the first operation, 16 out of 84 families were identified as fraudulent. 79 of 522 family units tested as fraudulent based on negative dna results. These examples of migrants posing as family units that i. C. E. Has uncovered them and straights the necessity of this new rule. No child should be a pawn in the scheme to manipulate our immigration system which is why the new rule eliminates the incentive to exploit children as a reason to get into the United States. This action is one part of our overall effort, but essential will do a great deal to address the crisis we are facing. To emphasize, at the heart of the rule are two principles, family should remain together during proceedings, and conditions for care of children must be appropriate. New rule establishes a high National Standard for care of children and families in custody and allows government to keep Families Together, restores integrity, and eliminates the incentive for children to be exploited to enter the United States. The first challenges we face require a whole government approach and we look forward to working together, including with international partners. Thank you and i look forward to taking your questions. How long do you expect families to remain in detention together, how do you estimate how long do you estimate the Court Proceedings . Secretary mcaleenan we have done this before in 2014 and 2015 under jeh johnson. Residential centers were established in these proceedings were implemented. The average stay was under 50 days for completion of proceedings. Released over 130,000 family units since march. Detain allpared to of these family units starting tomorrow . Or will more bed space have to be cleared . Secretary mcaleenan we will not be detaining every family unit. What the regulation implementation does, and it will not be effective for 60 days from publishing. Us to keep Families Together through the proceedings, we have three family Residential Centers and 3000 total beds in the centers. That is going to allow us to bring families in, anish immigration proceedings as a multilayered strategy. We are working with Central America, and metro. We have the migrant protection protocols which can be used to help families waiting in mexico. Do ishis will substantially increase our ability to end the catch and release challenges that have fueled this crisis. You said that eliminating the incentives is one of the primary goals. Is it possible that families consider coupling coming here will not listen to the issue, they will just here about the campus hear about the campus say, thatng and sounds great, let us go . Secretary mcaleenan in our experience, the main driver for immigration flows is the perception that they will be successful and be allowed to stay. If we have a process that got immigration result in a vast majority are being repatriated, that is the message that people will see. Person, and aer dangerous hand in a journey, ultimate not successful in a matter of weeks and months, that will change the dynamic. That is what has happened every time we have been able to implement consequences for people who do not have claims. Do you expect to implement this rule before it is joined in the courts . Secretary mcaleenan there will be litigation. A dialogue in the courts, and in fact, this rule contemplates terminating the agreement, and there is a legal proceeding to do that coming out of the implementation. We expect litigation and we hope to be able to implement as soon as possible. What is the capacity of these facilities you are talking about . Secretary mcaleenan 2500 to 3000 beds depending on family configuration. Thank you for holding the press conference. Related to your trip to panama, can you speak to the Washington Post resort report that you a deal . Ing to strike secretary mcaleenan we had a much broader agenda. Andad a ministerial meeting we started with the northern triangle countries. To include costa rica, panama, and columbia, and we will be talking about Regional Security issues. In terms of bilateral discussions, there is a new administration. My counterpart is a strong Law Enforcement has a strong Law Enforcement background. We will talk about security relationship and building on a Strong Foundation for the partnership, and information sharing which will include the movement of drugs, human smugglers and traffickers, and a dialogue about irregular migration flows, but they will not be a specific agreement negotiated. Will extra continental asylum seagulls seekers be a discussion . Secretary mcaleenan they are all concerned about them. The smugglers that are bringing them are charging 25,000 to 50,000 per person, we have seen security risks embedded in these flows, so absolutely, this is a topic of conversation for all of the ministers. How can you assure that and what is be held about these children being taken from parental custody . How are we sure that they will not be detained . Secretary mcaleenan the purpose of holding individuals and administrative custody during proceedings is to get the immigration result as expeditiously as possible. Those who have merit whose claims have merit for those to be released and for those who do not meet standards to have them repatriated. It establishes the procedures for release of individuals going through the proceedings for various reasons. There is no intent to hold families for a long period of time. We have the experience that we were able to average under 50 days, that is the intent for a fair but expeditious proceeding. Up on that. Follow timeframe in 2015 was different in in 50 days. The average now is two years. What other steps are you taking to ensure that you get in that 50 day period, given that the backlog has worsened dramatically. Secretary mcaleenan the detain document, these are the Court Dockets that Immigration Judges operate where people are held in custody, those move much more quickly than the multiyear numbers you are hearing for them nondetain documents. That one million case backlog is in the nondetained docket. The detained docket moves rapidly. We do anticipate being able to keep these cases on track. Onyou have judges working the detain and nondetained docket. There has been everchanging requirements in terms of what they should be prioritizing. What other steps can you take . Secretary mcaleenan we work closely with doj. We are targeting those priority cases that are going to make an impact in this crisis. That means those recent arrivals, and the detained docket, as well as protection protocols will be the xhosa will be the focus. Understanding i am just wondering if that is the case, and if you confirmed it. How will this agreement help with the extra people . Secretary mcaleenan just a quick reminder, we asked congress for additional family beds in the 2019 budget prices and in the supplemental. He did not receive them, that is important to recall. Going back to 2014 when newly established Residential Centers in the first place, the initial housing was at a dorm like setting and under secretary johnson. These initial hearings getting on getting families repatriated have an effect on the flow. The time the Residential Centers were out, they had enough capacity to manage the ongoing flow. We had a similar reaction when smugglers understand that a child is no longer a free pass or a passport to the u. S. You said that there is a High Standard to be met. Do you have funding, are you hiring trained people that are going to be caring for these children and families . Secretary mcaleenan we have funding for the Residential Centers that currently exist. They include significant standards, and this is all articulated in this rule. We do have contract professionals and medical professionals, counseling professionals, they will all be on staff and managing and interacting with families and children. Last question. When do you expect them to open . Secretary mcaleenan it goes to the registry today, published friday and effective 60 days later. Thank you for your time. Denny thompson who chairs the House Homeland Security committee reacted to the plans to terminate the Settlement Agreement to allow to indefinitely detain Migrant Children and families. Congressman thompson said terminating the florence florez settlement is illegal and goes against our longstanding american values. This will allow the administration to expand family detention and indefinitely lockup children. The courts Must Immediately stop this illegal action. Remarks fromrtly, President Trump at the American Veterans 75th national convention. It was expected to get underway at 2 00, we hear that the president is running a little bit late. You will have live coverage when it starts. We will show you the president s remarks leaving the white house for this event this afternoon