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Nine senators sent a letter to the Biden administration on Saturday condemning its handling of the influx of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border and calling for more “clarity.”
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley of R-Iowa led the letter signed by Republican Sens committee members. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn .; Thom Tillis, RN.C .; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Josh Hawley, R-Mo .; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Tom Cotton, R-Ark .; and John Kennedy, R-La.
“Regardless of what the Biden administration wants to call this current set of circumstances it has created, this surge in illegal immigration carries significant risks,” the senators wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Home Secretary. Health and Social Services Xavier Becerra. “It also places a heavy burden on public resources.”
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) attends a Republican caucus lunch. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images)
Senators added that “Congress and the American people need more clarity on how DHS and HHS are dealing” with the border situation.
There were 30,077 apprehensions at the border in February 2020. In February of this year, Customs and Border Patrol encountered 100,441 migrants at the southern border – a 28% increase from January 2021 – and proceeded to proceed. to 72,113 evictions.
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About 9,500 unaccompanied minors are held by HHS while about 4,500 await treatment at CBP facilities, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
CBP cannot deport children under US law, so they are temporarily held in facilities like the one in northeast El Paso, which has a capacity of 1,040 migrants. El Paso and other southern border facilities are stretching to their limits, creating overcrowded conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic as the Biden administration struggles to find more space and resources for those arriving at the border.
Travelers, left, queuing to cross a customs area in the United States at the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, watch a group of migrants, right, being deported to Reynosa, Mexico. (AP Photo / Julio Cortez)
“Capture and release policies pose additional risks to public health amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” Senators wrote. The Biden administration has expressed a supposed commitment to end the pandemic; however, reports suggest it is now considering keeping some of those apprehended by DHS personnel for only 72 hours before releasing them to the American communities. “
Mayorkas visited a CBP facility in El Paso on Friday, where he received a briefing “on the treatment, accommodation and transfer of unaccompanied children,” with a bipartisan group of senators, according to DHS, he did did not speak to the press.
FIRST PHOTO INSIDE EL PASO MIGRANT CENTER OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS, AS SOUTH BORDER SITUATION INTENSIFIES
Republicans have argued that Biden’s immediate return to Trump-era policies created the current influx of migrants to the border, although the number of border encounters has increased since April 2020, according to CBP.
Critics of Trump argue that the former president’s “stay in Mexico” policy puts migrants seeking American citizenship at risk of trafficking and violence there.
In this drone photo, migrants are seen in custody in a U.S. customs and border protection processing area under the Anzalduas International Bridge on Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Mission, Texas. . (AP Photo / Julio Cortez)
The nine senators are asking for more information from DHS and HHS, including a breakdown of the number of migrants detained since January 20, the number of migrants tested and vaccinated against COVID-19, estimates of the time individuals spend in detention by CBP before and after the tests, and future apprehension projections at the borders.
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More than 40 House Republicans also sent a letter to Beccera on Friday expressing “extreme concern” over the number of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border.
A number of GOP lawmakers have traveled or are planning to travel to the southern border to get first-hand accounts of the situation. Blackburn travels to Arizona on Sunday to “get the facts and see the crisis firsthand,” she said in a statement.
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