A U.S. border facility in Donna, Texas.Photo: AP/Shutterstock
Vice PresidentKamala Harrissaid Wednesday she and PresidentJoe Bidenwill “absolutely” visit detention facilities at the U.S. southern border, where thousands of migrant children are currently being detained after arriving to the country without their parents.
The vice president’s vow to take a firsthand look at what a growing number of lawmakers have described as a “crisis” in recent weeks comes as the Biden administration faces growing criticism over the influx of children being held in detention facilities meant for adults.
“Absolutely we will go down to the border, and I’ve been down to the border,” Harris, 56, said during an interview withCBS This Morning.
Later in the day, Biden, 78, announced Harris would lead the federal government’s efforts at the border, where a dramatic increase in the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the border has taken place since November,accordingto Customs and Border Protection data.
Biden said Harris would “lead our efforts with Mexico and the northern triangle and the countries that are going to need help in stemming” the increase in migration at the border.
Harris told CBS the U.S. needs to “deal with the root causes” of increased migration from Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which make up the northern triangle region.
CBP data shows more than 7,200 children from those countries arrived at the border without parents in February, roughly doubling the 3,600 who arrived in January.
The recent increase is causing thousands of children to be held in border patrol facilities meant only to temporarily hold migrant children for no more than 72 hours.
Harris said she was “frustrated” with the situation the children are now left in, but asked for patience.
“It’s going to take some time,” the vice president said.
The migrant minors then wait at HHS facilities, which refuge advocates say have better conditions and are more fit to house children, while the minors are matched up with a U.S. sponsor and then wait to go through the immigration process.
Border Patrol facility in Donna, Texas.AP/Shutterstock
A U.S. border facility in Donna, Texas.Jaime Rodriguez Sr/U.S. Customs and Border Protection/UPI/Shutterstock
Biden signed an executive order shortly after taking office that stopped a controversial Trump-era policy of denying both adults and children refuge in the U.S. while awaiting movement on their immigration process.
The Biden administration is still expelling most adults and families because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House has said, but the president vowed to accept unaccompanied children arriving at the border.
“It’s really a capacity question now,” Yael Schacher, a senior U.S. advocate at Refugees International, recently told PEOPLE.
The Biden administration is on track to open six additional facilities being put together to create space for the influx of migrant children, according to CBS.
Earlier this month, Bidendirected FEMA, the nation’s leading emergency agency, to help locate and construct those spaces.
Border Patrol facility.CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty
Border Patrol facility.Jerry Glaser/UPI/Shutterstock
Biden administration officials have repeatedly pointed fingers at the Trump administration’s widely criticized immigration policies while asking for more time to move children to more appropriate facilities.
“The situation on the ground is certainly challenging in part because we inherited a dismantled system that wasn’t prepared for processing asylum requests that had left in place,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psakitold reporterslast week.
Meanwhile, media members were set to get their first glimpse at conditions inside one CBP facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas on Wednesday, after the White House denied access for weeks.
“I have said repeatedly from the very outset a Border Patrol station is no place for a child,” Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees immigration,toldCNN on Sunday. “That is why we are working around the clock to move these children out of the Border Patrol facilities into the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services that shelters them.”
source: people.com
