By Jordan Fabian

Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump said his administration is close to ending the release into the U.S. of migrants who cross the southern border while they await court proceedings, a practice he has long derided as “catch and release.”

“There will be no more catch and release,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We won’t have catch within two weeks. We’ll be free of catch and release, releasing people.”

Trump signed a memorandum in August 2018 ordering the end to the policy, which he has said encourages illegal immigration. The president said the long-promised change could finally take place because of his administration’s unilateral moves to crack down on asylum seekers entering the country and the Mexican government’s push to apprehend Central American migrants traveling north.

Speaking beside Trump, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said the goal of ending the practice is now attainable. He cited the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Trump administration can proceed with its policy of turning back nearly all asylum seekers, as well as a program that forces many migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico while their legal cases are considered.

“Those are two significant things that are able to drive us in catch and release,” Morgan said. “We’re confident that in a couple of weeks we’re going to be able to end catch and release at the southwest border.”

But there are other legal and practical barriers that could prevent the government from detaining or turning back every migrant who illegally crosses the southwest border.

Detention centers are already overcrowded because of the spike in crossings over the past year. The administration also has yet to finalize so-called “safe-third country” agreements with Central American nations, which would require asylum seekers traveling through another country to first seek refuge there rather than the U.S.

The Trump administration is also locked in a court fight with 19 states and the District of Columbia, which are challenging its bid to end limits on detention of migrant children. Under a court ruling known as the Flores Agreement, the government is required to release migrant children from detention after 20 days.

Trump has often imposed two-week deadlines for major policy announcements that have been missed.