Newsman: The number of unaccompanied migrant children in Border Patrol custody continues to climb surpasses more than 3,700. It’s a dramatic increase from last week when Border Patrol was apprehending around 340 children daily who crossed the US-Mexico border alone. Typically, after being taken into Border Patrol custody, unaccompanied children have to be turned over within 72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with the care of migrant children, barring exceptional circumstances. Now many of them in jail-like facilities along the US-Mexico border. The Covid-19 pandemic has further constrained the space available to migrants in custody. As officials scramble to find shelter space for children; kids are staying in Border Patrol custody for prolonged periods of time, averaging more than four days.
US Border Patrol apprehended nearly 800 unaccompanied migrant children, as of the latest count, according to a Homeland Security official, signaling an ongoing spike in encounters of children and surpassing the current 450 daily average CNN reported on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, CBP announced it had encountered just over 100,000 migrants along the US-Mexico border in February, reaching levels not seen since 2019. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen the number that high,” the official told CNN about Wednesday’s numbers, referring to a single day figure over the last several months.
“(W)e continue to struggle with the number of individuals in our custody, especially given the pandemic,” said Troy Miller, the senior official performing the duties of the CBP commissioner, during a press briefing Wednesday.
The border agency is working with HHS to move children out of custody as quickly as possible, said Miller.
“We need to move them out quicker,” he acknowledged.
The spike in children arriving this week is drawing a lot of attention and meetings are ongoing “at the highest levels,” predicting it will be an ongoing problem until the Biden administration finds a way to prevent children from arriving at the border the official told CNN.
“It’s going to be very difficult to stop this,” the official said. At the peak of the 2019 border crisis — when there were overcrowded facilities and children sleeping on the ground — there were around 2,600 unaccompanied children in Border Patrol custody, a former CBP official previously told CNN.
The administration is racing to house migrant children as President Joe Biden’s approach to immigration faces a critical early test. The President entered office vowing to reverse what he cast as cruel policies put in place by President Donald Trump that made it difficult for people fleeing poverty and violence to come to the United States. Now, Biden is working to strike a balance between promoting a more humane approach to immigration while still sending the message to would-be migrants not to come.
