US to welcome over 1,000 undocumented families to hotels near Mexico border

United States Government Signed $ 86.9 Million Contract to accommodate certain families of undocumented immigrants who come from the Mexican side of the border in hotels near the border, according to official sources and the media.

For the time being some 1,200 families will thus be accommodated in regions of Texas and Arizona, local media reported Axios.

In a press release sent to the EFE agency this Sunday by the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE), the acting director of this agency, Tae johnson, explained to have signed a short-term contract with the Texas NGO Endeavors.

The objective of this agreement is “To provide temporary accommodation and treatment services to families who have not been removed and are therefore in the process of removal from the United States”, He said.

Johnson added that the contract includes 1,239 beds and other services, such as medical care and coronavirus testing. “The border is not open,” he said. Most people continue to be evicted under the public health authority of the Centers for Disease Control.

Axios He clarified that the contract between ICE and Endeavors is for six months, although it can be extended.

ICE is responsible for the custody of undocumented migrants crossing the border after being detained by the border patrol.

According to Axios, this agency is transforming its family detention centers into express management points in order to release these people within 72 hours.

However, the fact that he accommodates them in hotels indicates that ICE is struggling to accommodate the growing number of people in its care.

The number of undocumented immigrant family members who crossed the southern border into the United States rose from 7,000 in January to around 19,000 in February, according to ICE data.

The border situation monopolizes political debate in Washington, where President Joe Biden has promised more humane treatment to immigrants after Donald Trump’s tenure (2017-2021), but they are struggling to cope with the arrival of the homeless. papers, many of them are unaccompanied minors.

Republican MPs and Trump himself have cataloged the situation on the border with Mexico as a crisis, which they blamed on Biden’s policies, which dismantled many of his predecessor’s harsh measures, which they say caused the ‘arrival. more immigrants at the limit, which remains closed due to the pandemic.

The United States holds more than 15,000 unaccompanied minor migrants who have crossed the Mexican border, including more than 5,000 in the United States Customs and Border Protection department and nearly 10,500 in housing with the department. of Health and Social Services.

On the one hand, documentation to which the channel had access CNN confirmed on Saturday that more than 5,000 unaccompanied minor migrants are being held by the United States Customs and Border Protection department, an increase of more than half a thousand in recent days.

Among this group there are more than 600 minors who have been detained for more than ten days and the US media have reported that several children spend an average of 136 hours in this body, which exceeds the 72 hour limit set by law. American.

Likewise, the spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mark Weber, confirmed to the North American channel CBS that nearly 10,500 unaccompanied minor migrants are accommodated in accommodation centers and emergency shelters.

In the month of February, over 9,400 unaccompanied minors detained in the United States, which was a record, however, this figure is expected to be surpassed in March as cross-border commuters reported they encounter on average more than 500 unaccompanied minors per day, according to the CBS network.

With information from EFE and Europa Press

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