Washington DC - The Biden administration is reportedly mulling the option of once again detaining migrant families without documentation, marking a huge step backward in the push for more humane immigration and border policies.

Though a final decision has not been made, officials said the administration is reviewing a return to a policy allowing for family detentions, according to the New York Times.

President Joe Biden ended the practice when he took office two years ago after criticizing the detentions under Donald Trump, which saw many undocumented children separated from their parents and placed behind bars.

Instead, the Biden administration has prioritized ankle bracelets and other means of tracking migrants seeking to enter the country.

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In other instances, however, the president has kept in place many of his predecessor's restrictive border policies.

The reported move comes ahead of the planned expiration of Title 42, a public health order that essentially denied many migrants at the Southern border the right to claim asylum in the US.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security released new guidelines that would expand legal pathways for 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti to apply for entry if they have a US sponsor. Meanwhile, those who enter the country via the Southern border without documentation will be immediately deported to Mexico – without their asylum claims being heard.

Last month, the Biden administration announced a proposal to bar migrants at the US-Mexico border from receiving asylum in the US if they do not first claim asylum in a country they passed through. Opponents have said the measure will effectively block many Central Americans from claiming asylum.

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The administration's possible family detention policy, which could go into effect by May 11, would differ from Trump's in that there would be a 20-day cap on the time migrants spend behind bars, officials noted. That is small comfort for immigrants' rights activists, who have characterized the potential return as an unacceptable step backwards.

Family detentions were also prevalent during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president.