Case management cheaper than detaining migrant families

If taxpayers could spend $36 per day on a given program, rather than $800 per day on another, doesn’t it make sense to adopt the lower-cost option? Setting aside the $764 disparity in daily cost, it’s a national shame that many families separated at the U.S. border have not been reunited.

Amid the crisis of forcible family separation, I urge Congress not to pivot to the equally devastating practice of incarcerating families together. Instead, an alternative is the Family Case Management Program (FCMP) which can help families navigate the immigration and asylum processes with community support. A pilot FCMP program spent $36 per family unit daily and has a 99 percent compliance rate. Yet, despite its demonstrated success, the Trump administration ended FCMP in June, 2017.

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has already voted to restart FCMP. Because we should all rely on — and encourage — our members of Congress to shape policies that are cost-efficient, effective, and humane, I urge Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to invest in the return of family case management and cut funding for detention beds accordingly.

Micki Jackson

Bellingham