Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas repeatedly argued on Sunday that the United States\u2019 border with Mexico is \u201cclosed,\u201d amid a marked increase in immigrant arrivals, particularly of unaccompanied minors. <\/p>\n
Reports emerged Sunday that the administration has at least 15,500 unaccompanied minors in custody \u2014 10,500 in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and 5,000 detained by US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). <\/p>\n
The minors being held by HHS are being housed in emergency shelters and facilities licensed for child care, according to CBS News, while the roughly 5,000 children and teenagers in CBP care are being kept in crowded, \u201cjail-like facilities,\u201d according to a CNN report that cites case managers, lawyers, and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
That report describes a setting in which \u201cchildren are alternating schedules to make space for one another in confined facilities, some kids haven\u2019t seen sunlight in days, and others are taking turns showering, often going days without one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Children are spending an average of five days in those facilities, and more than 600 ofthe children have been in custody for longer than 10 days, the report states. By law, unaccompanied children are supposed to be processed and sent to HHS shelters within 72 hours. <\/p>\n
Officials have blamed the delay on the crowding at the border, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, and Sunday, Mayorkas also said the Trump administration is responsible for the increase in arrivals at the border.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire system was dismantled by the prior administration,\u201d Mayorkas said on CNN\u2019s State of the Union<\/em>. \u201cThere was a system in place in both Republican and Democratic administrations that was torn down during the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Former President Donald Trump made radical changes to immigration policy, including fighting for funding for a US-Mexico border wall; instituting the Migrant Protection Protocols, which required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico as they awaited hearings; and signing agreements to send some Central American migrants back to their countries of origin.<\/p>\n President Joe Biden has ended these policies, arguing they run counter to his administration\u2019s pledge to offer a more \u201chumane\u201d approach to immigration than under the previous Trump and Obama administrations.<\/p>\n In February, the Biden administration began accepting unaccompanied children. Many such children have been stranded in Mexico for a year under Trump\u2019s \u201cremain-in-Mexico\u201d policy, and are now seeking protection under federal law and to reunite with US-based family.<\/p>\n And earlier this month, the administration said that it would restart the Central American Minors program \u2014 halted under the Trump administration \u2014 which allows children in danger to apply to enter the US from their home countries instead of having to first arrive at the US-Mexico border.<\/p>\n Critics of the administration argue that the uptick in immigration stems from this decision. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) told ABC\u2019s This Week<\/em> on Sunday, \u201cThe messaging is that if you want to come, you can stay.\u201d But allies, like former Obama administration DHS official John Sandweg, have argued that Trump administration policy like the Migrant Protection Protocols created a backlog of cases, and that those policies are \u201cartificially increasing the numbers,\u201d as he told CNN.<\/p>\n Sister Norma Pimentel, who leads the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, told Politico the problem doesn\u2019t lie with any one administration, but all of them: \u201cIt\u2019s caused by the fact that nobody has ever done something to address it before and that\u2019s why we still have the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n The Biden administration has made key changes to immigration \u2014 but is asking immigrants not to come <\/p>\n Regardless of where the fault lies, there has been an increase in unaccompanied children and teenagers crossing the southern border, with about 9,400 entering border custody in February. This month, an average of 500 minors per day have entered the country, according to government data.<\/p>\n Officials have opened three emergency facilities for the children, and will soon open a fourth, according to CBS News; the Trump administration operated three such facilities.<\/p>\n In many ways, the Biden administration appears to have been caught flat-footed by the increase in migration \u2014 even though administration officials were reportedly briefed by DHS officials in advance that such an increase was likely.<\/p>\n On Friday, Mayorkas visited El Paso alongside Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Rob Portman (R-OH), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). In a tweet, Murphy described crying and frightened children, while Portman called for policy changes to \u201cdiscourage migration & provide safer alternatives to making the dangerous journey north.\u201d<\/p>\n While unaccompanied minors \u2014 and some families with young children, due to a recent change to immigration rules in Mexico \u2014 are being allowed to stay, Mayorkas stressed on Sunday that adults and families are being expelled, \u201cbecause we are in the midst of a pandemic, and that is a public health imperative.\u201d<\/p>\n