Joe Biden to shake up migrant detention process with 'family reception' plan

A new initiative intends to improve facilities for vulnerable families who cross into the US

Asylum seekers take refuge near a baseball field after crossing into the US from Mexico. Reuters

Some migrant families who arrive in the US will be housed in hotels under a new programme managed by non-profit organisations.

It is a move away from for-profit detention centres that have been criticised by Democrats and health experts.

Endeavors, a social services organisation in San Antonio, Texas, will oversee what it calls "family reception sites" at hotels in Texas and Arizona, a source said.

The organisation, in partnership with other non-profit groups, will initially provide about 1,400 beds in seven hotels for families deemed vulnerable when caught at the border.

The plan was first reported by Axios on Saturday.

The opening of the reception centres would mark a significant shift by the government of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, away from the detention of migrant families in for-profit centres.

In January, Mr Biden issued an order that directed the Justice Department not to renew its contracts with privately operated criminal detention centres.

But the order did not address immigration jails run by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.