US mulls deporting migrant families with court-ordered removals

Washington, May 11 (IANS) US President Donald Trump's administration is considering deporting migrant families with court-ordered removals, a move that senior Department of Homeland Security officials have resisted in the past, the media reported.

The idea, described as a way to "send a message" to smugglers, is "under serious consideration", a senior administration official told CNN on Friday.

However, there were no immediate reports of such action being taken.

The Department of Homeland Security, suffering from a lack of resources, is unable to deport all those who are ordered to be removed from the country and has said it focuses on the people it deems the most dangerous.

However, that could change as a massive influx of migrant families have made their way into the country illegally over the southern border.

As part of the consideration, the administration has been looking at an operation rolled out in the late years of Barack Obama's presidency -- and revived in President Donald Trump's first year in office -- that also targeted family units. Obama initially focused on felons.

An informed source told CNN that the administration has been looking at Obama-era policies such as Operation Border Guardian/Border Resolve, which targeted family units for removal amid an uptick in families and unaccompanied minors attempting to cross the border.

There are no current plans to implement the targeting of families, the source added.

In April, nearly 100,000 migrants, many of whom were families, were apprehended at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection data.