A House spending panel Wednesday approved a measure that would allow illegal immigrant children to remain with parents at border detention facilities.
The House Appropriations Committee voted to include the measure in the fiscal 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education funding bill.
[Related: DHS creating office to tell Central American governments about family reunification efforts: Report]
The $177 billion spending bill has not yet been scheduled for a House floor vote. The Appropriations Committee will vote on the legislation later today.
The family separation provision, added by Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a senior appropriator, replicates an amendment to a failed House immigration bill that lawmakers blocked last month.
It clarifies standards for family detention and prevents the release of unaccompanied children to anyone but their parent or guardian. It also requires that children stay with parents if they are detained after crossing the border illegally.
The Trump administration has been criticized for detaining adults awaiting prosecution, forcing any children who accompanied them to be taken elsewhere. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reunite the families.
President Trump tried to end the “catch and release” of adults and children who cross the border illegally together because many never return for court hearings.
The House provision would keep the families at the border to await court hearings rather than releasing them.
[Also read: Trump’s answer to family separation: ‘Don’t come to our country illegally’]
