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WASHINGTON – The number of unaccompanied immigrant children arrested for illegally crossing the southern border into the United States is set to increase by more than 50% in February from the previous month, sources familiar with the matter said. the prospect of a humanitarian crisis in that country.
About 2,200 children illegally crossed the border each week in February, and the pace is picking up as the month progresses, some people said. The government predicts that around 9,000 children will be taken into custody by the end of February.
US Customs and Border Protection reported placing 5,707 unaccompanied children in detention in January, an 18% increase from the previous month. The growing number of children in care is starting to hamper the government’s ability to properly house and care for them.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. CBP said it would not share the specific number of unaccompanied children detained outside of monthly totals, saying that figure was a sensitive law enforcement matter, and added that it continued to give the priority to the treatment of children before other migrants.
The Biden administration sought to avoid a repeat of humanitarian border crises in 2014 and 2019 when waves of unaccompanied migrant children and families overwhelmed federal facilities.
Until February, the rate of unaccompanied children arriving at the border remained lower than in either of these previous waves. The government’s task of caring for children had already been complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Space in the government network of children’s shelters, managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been reduced by 40% to allow for social distancing.
This means the government has reached its capacity much faster than it would have before the pandemic. The government opened an emergency shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas this week to house more children.
When children cannot be quickly sent to shelters, they remain in the custody of the border patrol. The border patrol facility cells are not designed to house children and its officers are not trained to care for children.
More than 900 children were waiting at border patrol posts to be transferred to a shelter on Friday, according to a person familiar with the number, with 100 of them waiting longer than the 72-hour limit allowed by law.
President Biden has proposed a comprehensive plan for immigration reform. But as the WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains, it faces a rise that could be even more difficult than what previous administrations have faced. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann
Illegal border crossings by unaccompanied children, families and single adults have increased since the summer due to a mix of factors. The pandemic has worsened the economic situation in Mexico and Central America, where most of the migrants come from.
The Biden administration has sought to strike a balance in its southern border policy, signaling to immigration advocates that it is working to reverse former President Donald Trump’s policies limiting access to the system. asylum, while sending a message to potential migrants – in English and Spanish, now is not the time to make the trip north.
White House officials have worked with Latin American governments to spread its message and, in some cases, enlist foreign agents to return migrants to borders in the southern United States.
The Biden administration has left in place an emergency public health order issued by former President Trump during the pandemic that allows border officials to quickly return most migrants they encounter, avoiding the arrest process formal. In such cases, migrants have not been allowed to seek asylum, legal protection anyone can claim if they are fleeing political, religious or other persecution in their country of origin.
Although crossing the border without permission is illegal, US law allows foreigners to seek asylum regardless of how they entered the country. Most people who seek asylum in the United States ultimately lose their cases, according to Department of Justice data.
In November, a court ordered the Trump administration to stop applying the emergency public health policy to children. An appeals court overturned the decision after President Biden took office, but his administration chose not to resume returning the children to their home countries.
“Our best option, in our opinion, is to have these children treated in HHS facilities where Covid protocols are in place, where they are safe, where they can have access to educational and medical care,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
Republicans and former Trump administration officials criticized the Biden administration for the move, saying it contributed to the recent rise.
“This is a self-inflicted crisis,” Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior advisor and architect of his immigration policy, said in an interview.
Write to Michelle Hackman at [email protected]
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