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HOUSTON (AP) – President Joe Biden’s administration is ordering long-term facilities that take in immigrant children to lift capacity restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic to open much-needed beds in a system facing health needs. huge increase.
A memo released Friday by the US Department of Health and Human Services instructs service providers to “temporarily increase capacity to full authorized capacity … while implementing and adhering to measures to ‘Strict COVID-19 Mitigation’. It is not immediately clear how many beds will be available beyond the roughly 7,000 that were online last month. HHS ‘fully licensed capacity was over 13,000 beds at the end of last year.
Some facilities have halved their capacity during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, hundreds of children awaiting placement in the HHS system are being held by the U.S. Border Patrol in tents or large cold cells not equipped to accommodate minors. Images and stories of crowded border patrol cells in 2018 and 2019 sparked outrage, with tales of families and young children fending for themselves without adequate food and water.
Lifting the caps linked to the pandemic could increase the risk of the coronavirus spreading at HHS facilities, especially as many more children enter the system. But organizations that run HHS facilities and some advocates have lobbied for more beds to be available. if it is done safely, rather than keeping children in border patrol facilities longer or placing them in expensive, unlicensed emergency centers.
“Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no 0% risk scenario, especially in assembly places,” the memo read, first reported by CNN. “Therefore, ORR facilities should plan for and expect to have cases of COVID-19.”
HHS previously allowed facility operators to bill the government for travel expenses when a child is handed over to a parent or other sponsor. Some families cannot easily afford the hundreds of dollars to steal a child and guardian, and payment disputes can sometimes delay a child’s release for days.
Officers apprehend around 400 children a day unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, a sharp increase from last month. There are fears that these numbers will continue to rise.
Biden ended practice under former President Donald Trump of deporting unaccompanied children under a public health statement issued during the pandemic, though his administration continues to deport immigrant families and adults. Some former Trump administration officials have accused Biden of tricking immigrants into trying to enter the United States illegally, even though numbers under Biden did not peak under Trump.
The practice of deporting children has been strongly criticized and has often returned them to dangerous situations without giving them the opportunity to seek asylum or speak to a lawyer. The Associated Press reported that the underlying public health statement was released under pressure from former Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump issued a statement Friday saying “the border is now totally out of control thanks to the disastrous leadership of Joe Biden.”
“We are not following our advice or that of former President Trump on immigration policy, which was not only inhumane but ineffective for the past four years,” White House Press Secretary Jen replied on Friday. Psaki. “We will chart our own course forward, and that includes treating children with humanity and respect and ensuring that they are safe when they cross our borders.”
In recent days, Biden has also come under fire from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans for freeing immigrant families in South Texas. Border officials have stopped deporting families with young children from some cities in Texas due to a policy change in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. In several cities, local governments and advocacy groups are testing newly released families for COVID-19 and directing people with the virus to shelters or hotel rooms reserved for them.
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