Crackdown on immigrant families to start Sunday, Trump says

Deterring border crossing

Trump, a Republican who has made cracking down on illegal immigration a centerpiece of his administration, is trying to deal with a surge of mostly Central American families crossing the US-Mexico border. Many families are approaching border officials to seek asylum.

The latest planned arrests would follow widespread criticism of the crowded, unsanitary conditions in which immigrants are being detained along the southwestern border and concerns about children being separated from adults by border officials.

In a hearing on the subject on Friday at the US House of Representatives, some Democrats said they feared the forthcoming arrests could result in more immigrant children being separated from their families.

Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, asked a federal watchdog about its recently issued report saying detention conditions were below standards.

Jennifer Costello, the acting inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, told the congressional hearing that the government was falling short in terms of "crowding, the prolonged detention, some of the hygiene that the children are supposed to have."

Costello said it would be "impossible" to meet required standards under "the conditions that we saw there."

"It's shocking," she said.