Lawmakers urge Biden administration to grant media access to border facilities

A growing chorus of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called the Biden administration allow reporters and journalists to enter institutions housing unaccompanied migrant children who have sought asylum at the US-Mexico border.

The call for greater transparency with the American public and those who cover it comes as the United States faces a growing humanitarian crisis on its southwest border, driven by economic devastation in Central America, climate change, gang violence and political persecution, as well as a new presidential administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas predicts the United States is on track to encounter more migrants at its southwest border than in 20 years. Amid the continued surge in crossings, President Biden said on Sunday that “at some point” he would be heading to the border.

Senator Rob Portman, a leading member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and one of four senators who accompanied Mayorkas to the border on Friday, told CBS News “Face the Nation” that he would push “absolutely” to open Custom and Border Protection Facilities (CBP) for journalists amid calls for transparency.

“It should be transparent,” Portman said. “It’s amazing to me how little my constituents know about what is happening along the border. It is a situation that is spiraling out of control.

Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, also participated in the trip to the US-Mexico border. The Democratic lawmaker told NPR on Saturday that opening up access to media coverage is “something we should all be pressuring the administration to do better.”

“We want to make sure that the press has access to hold the administration accountable,” he said. “That’s why I was there, to hold them accountable. And they saw a wave that started last year, that started under the Trump administration, but it’s real. It puts pressure on them. on their resources. “

As of Saturday morning, more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors remained at a CBP tent storage facility in South Texas and other stations along the border with Mexico. According to government records, unaccompanied children spend an average of 136 hours in CBP custody, well beyond the legal limit of 72 hours.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also housed nearly 10,500 unaccompanied children in emergency shelters and shelters licensed by states to care for minors, according to the department spokesperson. Mark Weber.

Another travel lawmaker, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, told the Washington Post on Saturday that more than 200 border officials had been diverted to a processing center. customs and border protection in El Paso to take care of children.

According to Capito, as many as 100 migrant children were being held in a large room at the facility amid the coronavirus pandemic, and many are being held by CBP beyond the legal limit of 72 hours before their transfer to HHS. Capito expressed concern about exceeding the length of stay at CBP facilities, noting: “They will move 50 per night [and] bring in another 100 that night. “

The Republican Senator also told the Washington Post that she confirmed to the DHS secretary that journalists should be allowed into border facilities. “I begged him to have so much transparency with us … but also with the press,” said Capito.

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Mayorkas cited both privacy and health concerns in letting reporters into the facilities. “Let me be clear, we are in the middle of the pandemic. We are talking about a crowded border patrol station where we are focusing on operations,” Mayorkas said.

“At the same time, and let me assure you, we’re working on a plan to provide access so people can see what’s going on. in border patrol positions, “continued the DHS secretary.” I encourage people to also see the facilities of the Department of Health and Social Services where the children are housed and where they belong and where we transfer them.

The delegation’s trip to the border on Friday remained closed to the press “due to privacy and COVID-19 precautions,” according to the DHS statement.

A Biden administration official said Thursday that DHS made an “operational decision” in March 2020 “to discourage visitors” due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and that this rule “still stands.”

Journalists have been allowed to enter government facilities to inspect conditions and speak with asylum seekers during the latest waves of migrants, including under the Trump administration in 2018 and under the Obama administration in 2014.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration did not have a timeline for when the public could see conditions inside the border facilities, amid repeated interrogations in the White House briefing room.

“We remain committed to sharing data with all of you on the number of children crossing the border, the steps we are taking, the work we are doing to open facilities, our own bar that we are setting up, improving and speed up the timing and treatment of these children, ”Psaki said, deferring the issues to the Department of Homeland Security. “And we remain committed to transparency. I don’t have an update for you on the access schedule, but it’s definitely something we support.”

In addition to media access, the Biden administration did not provide photos or videos documenting the interior of overcrowded government facilities housing migrant children amid the COVID-19 public emergency.

But the Biden administration, including homeland security officials, have repeatedly vowed to expand transparency and access to the department’s operations ahead of the president’s inauguration. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Internal Security and Government Affairs on January 19, Mayorkas promised “to raise the level of public engagement, so that we are a transparent agency – transparent not only to the public. public that we serve, but for the media. whose responsibility is in part to hold us accountable. “

Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.