[ad_1]
Officials said there were more than 9,500 children in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services and about 4,500 with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This represents an increase from the start of the week. The average length of stay for a child in HHS care is 34 days, an official added.
But as the number of children in federal custody increases, the White House is under pressure to come up with an answer that both alleviates the problem while maintaining the more humane approach Biden campaigned on.
In a briefing to reporters on Thursday, senior administration officials insisted it was former President Donald Trump’s policy that left them in the current predicament and said flows of migrants should be expected.
“Children coming to the border are not a national crisis,” one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“January 20 was not suddenly the time when the border looked different. The numbers are going up and down all the time,” the official said. “Adults are turned away. Most families are turned away. We can treat and protect children who arrive at our borders to seek help as the law requires and our administration does.”
Despite the administration’s efforts to minimize the current influx of migrants, CBP is on track to encounter more individuals at the border than in the past 20 years, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro said on Tuesday. Mayorkas. He said the agency was meeting children as young as six and seven.
Mayorkas’ television appearances this week, coupled with briefings from officials, were designed to show that the administration is on top. Biden drew harsh recriminations from Republicans as well as some Democrats for his management.
Administration officials said on Thursday that most adult migrants and migrant families were being deported. But they acknowledged that Mexico’s ability to take in migrants was limited, especially those with young children. And they reiterated that the Biden administration will not deport unaccompanied minors.
“We are dealing with the hand given to us. The president inherited a mess,” an official said. “We have a whole-of-government approach to cleaning up the mess.”
The administration is now focused on expanding the capacity of its facilities and speeding up the treatment of unaccompanied children, which would allow them to exit government care more quickly, officials said on Thursday.
This includes changing the Covid-19 protocols to increase the number of people allowed inside each facility, opening new facilities, and paying for children’s flights or transportation to locate family members or tutors.
Officials also said they were working through diplomatic channels to try and tackle the root causes of migration from Central America, which include violence, poverty and – this year – two devastating hurricanes.
But these efforts are longer term. For now, the administration has said it is trying to rapidly increase the capacity of CBP’s new facilities in Texas and Arizona to accommodate inbound migrants while providing a basic level of comfort.
An official said the CBP-run temporary treatment facility in Donna, Texas – which houses most unaccompanied children arriving at the border – “was designed to be able to provide the best possible care under the circumstances.”
The official said this included three meals a day, access to regular snacks, freedom of movement, phone calls, showers and occasional outdoor recreation.
“There is what I would say, these are people doing their best to provide care in a facility that is really not designed to accommodate large numbers of children,” said an official.
Media requests to visit Donna’s facility have been repeatedly denied, with DHS citing Covid restrictions. And while the White House said on Wednesday it would discuss releasing photos taken by a delegation from the administration of Donna’s installation earlier this month, it seemed unlikely a day later.
“There was a private briefing, an internal briefing several weeks ago. Usually we don’t provide these materials publicly, but we want you to, or a media pool to be able to have your own visuals. and get your own images of those facilities, ”said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary.
[ad_2]
Source link