\n\n“Administration officials have urged patience as they review the dysfunctional system under which migrants are currently processed at the border, and as they seek to dismantle former President Donald Trump\u2019s complex web of policies that put asylum and other humanitarian protections out of reach for most people. For now, that means that the vast majority of migrants are still being turned away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the White House has declined<\/a> so far to call it a \u201ccrisis,\u201d the situation is increasingly dire: As of Wednesday, more than 3,700 children<\/a> were reportedly being detained in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) temporary holding facilities designed for adults for longer than legally permitted \u2014 a record high. These are the same facilities that generated widespread outrage under the Trump administration, where children slept with nothing but mylar blankets to keep them warm at night on concrete floors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Saturday that a CBP facility is \u201cno place for a child,\u201d but that border agents are \u201cworking around the clock in difficult circumstances to take care of children temporarily in our care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n CBP officials are struggling to quickly transfer them to state-licensed shelters for migrant children, which have had to drastically slash their capacity amid the pandemic, and where beds are now full. That has forced the administration to reopen temporary tent facilities<\/a> in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which are costly and not subject to the same level of oversight as permanent shelters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday, the administration also announced<\/a> that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would help \u201creceive, shelter and transfer\u201d unaccompanied children over the next 90 days. The agency is now working to expand the capacity of shelters designed to administer care to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this sounds familiar, it\u2019s because the same crisis has been playing out cyclically since at least 2014, when the US saw a dramatic shift in the kinds of migrants who were arriving at the southern border, from primarily single-adult Mexicans to families and children from Central America\u2019s \u201cNorthern Triangle\u201d: Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the years since, the federal government has failed to adapt to ensure that children and families are treated humanely. That burden is now on Biden.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “While most migrants are still being turned away at the border, the Biden administration began accepting unaccompanied children<\/a> in February in a reversal of Trump-era policy. Most of them have been stranded in Mexico for a year under that policy, despite their right to seek protection under federal law, and are now seeking to reunify with family in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2014, the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border has remained above 40,000 annually, peaking at more than 72,000 in 2019 under Trump.” …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The administration also announced Wednesday that, in an effort to reduce the pressure on resources at the border, it is restarting the Central American Minors program<\/a>, which allows children in danger to apply to come to the US from their home countries instead of having to come to the US-Mexico border to do so. Trump had ended the program after taking office, leaving around 3,000 children stranded who had already been approved for travel.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Biden has kept in place a Trump-era policy that has allowed the US to expel nearly all migrants arriving on the southern border with no due process on the grounds of curbing the spread of Covid-19<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Biden has created narrow exceptions to the policy for unaccompanied children and asylum seekers who were sent back to Mexico to await their day in court in the US under the Trump administration\u2019s Migrant Protection Protocols. Last month, Mexico also stopped accepting<\/a> some families with children under the age of 12 due to a change in its laws concerning the detention of children, so they have been released into the US instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the vast majority of migrants still can\u2019t enter the US under the policy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “the Biden administration\u2019s message to migrants is, \u201cThe border is not open,\u201d and \u201cDo not come in an irregular fashion<\/a>.\u201d But there is hope among migrant communities in Mexico that the new administration will eventually offer them protection given that Biden has sought to pursue more immigrant-friendly policies than his predecessor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Smugglers have also been spreading misinformation about the Biden administration\u2019s plans to process asylum seekers in an effort to profit from it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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