OVER 15,000 UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN HELD AT US BORDER FACILITIES

Sun 21 March 2021:

The number of migrant children in U.S. custody has passed 15,000, CBS News reported Saturday.

Records reviewed by the network showed that the government has about 15,500 unaccompanied migrant minors in U.S. custody. Over 5,000 unaccompanied minors are currently held in a tent holding facility run by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other stations along the U.S.-Mexico Border as of Saturday morning.

Unaccompanied migrant children are spending around 136 hours in CBP custody, which is far more than the legal 72-hour limit.

According to CBS, US border officials have been encountering more than 500 unaccompanied minors per day over the past 21 days.

CBS further reported that border officials have encountered over 500 unaccompanied minors per day over the past 21 days. The number of encounters are expected to top the 9,400 minors that entered custody in February.

The report comes as the Biden administration faces criticism for its handling of a large surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Republicans blamed the surge on President Biden’s shift from former President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.

However, refugee advocates and journalists have demanded more transparency around child migrant facilities to inspect and assess conditions on the ground. There have been no public photos taken thus far in the buildings where thousands of children are being kept during the Biden administration.

Meanwhile CNN reports that there are over 5,000 unaccompanied children in CBP custody, more than 600 children have been in custody for more than 10 days.

The HHS is taking urgent steps to make more space to house unaccompanied minors arriving at the US southern border, an HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) spokesperson said in a Saturday statement.

A new facility is being opened for unaccompanied children in Texas and is expected to accommodate approximately 500 children with the potential to expand to 2,000.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said earlier this week that the administration of US President Joe Biden has failed to provide safe and humane conditions at two recently-opened facilities in Texas that are holding migrant children.

HHS said that as of March 15 there are about 9,200 migrant children under the care of the US government.

Data from US Customs and Border Protection shows 9,457 unaccompanied migrant children were apprehended at the southern border in February, which is a substantial increase from the 5,858 unaccompanied migrant children apprehended in January. At least 29,729 migrant children have been apprehended at the US-Mexico border in the period from October to February. Overall, 100,441 migrants were apprehended entering the United States illegally in the month of February.