Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) at ICE Matthew T. Albence told Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday that lawmakers were “missing the point” on undocumented immigrants breaking the law.
Hirono asked panelists if they would send their own children to the family residential centers, or FRCs, which Albence earlier said were more “like summer camps” than jails.
“These individuals are there because they have broken a law. There has to be a process,” he said.
“They are there for violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Nationality Act. Okay. U.S.C. 1325. That’s illegal entry is both a criminal and civil violation. They are in those FRCs pending the outcome of that civil immigration process. They have broken the law,” he added.
Watch the exchange: