More than 700 children who crossed from Mexico to the United States without their parents have been in Border Patrol custody since Sunday, according to an internal Customs and Border Protection document obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The current backup is yet another sign of a brewing crisis for President Biden – and an ever-growing dilemma for these vulnerable children. Biden finds it easier to talk about preventing child storage at the Southern Border than about solving the problem.
- To make matters worse, the border crossing usually peaks in the spring, and it’s not until February.
Behind the scenes: Of the more than 700 children waiting to be transferred to shelters supervised by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, more than 200 were held in these border patrol posts for more than 48 hours.
- Nine had been held longer than the agreed-upon 72-hour limit, according to the internal document, which timestamped the data stream from 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 21.
At the White House press conference on Wednesday press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged that some children had been held for four or five days – or more.
- She blamed some of the delays on the bad weather that closed Texas last week, saying that some of the long-term shelters “had no power and were not in a place where they had the capacity to accommodate these children and keep it safe. to do.”
- She also pushed hard for equality between the government’s current and past dealings with children, who usually come from countries in Central America, on the US-Mexico border.
- While President Donald was Trump, he was criticized for divorcing children from their parents. That policy is no longer in effect, although the increasing number of children arriving now are unaccompanied, meaning they are being held alone anyway.
What they say: “We have a number of options: we can send them back home … we can quickly transfer them from CPB to these HHS managed facilities. … We can place them with families and sponsors without any control,” said Psaki . “We chose the middle option.”
During the rise in 2019 Government watchdogs found severe overcrowding and sanitation, health and safety issues at US Customs and Border Patrol shelters, which pay special attention to children.
- CBP is only intended to have short-term custody of migrants before turning adults and families over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and transferring unaccompanied children to HHS.
- Nonetheless, at least 179 minor migrants spent more than three days in CBP custody in January, as well as at least 48 children in December, CBS News’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez reported this week.
What to watch: Coronavirus protocols have also significantly reduced the number of children who can be held in HHS shelters for longer term.
- The Biden administration has already been forced to open a temporary shelter in Texas for child migrants, which also has the capacity to add tent-like structures.
More than 400 migrant children were referred to HHS shelters on Tuesday, according to an administrative official.
- That’s a striking number, especially when compared to the 30-day referral average at the height of the 2019 crisis – 294.
Bottom line: The Biden administration stopped using an emergency health ordinance that would have allowed the Trump administration to quickly expel migrant children who had crossed the border.
- Some experts now say that Biden’s policy reversal is part of the reason for the recent increase in unaccompanied children arriving at the border.