Immigration | GeorgMedia

April 3, 2021

I came to the US when I was only 2 years old. Without action from Congress, I could be deported to a country I’ve never known.

There are 2.1 million Dreamers in this country.
Dreamers should not have to live in uncertainty.
DACA recipients are calling on lawmakers to pass the American Dream and Promise Act.
Karen Reyes came to the US when she was two years old. She now lives in Austin, Texas, and works as a special education teacher.
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I am a DACA recipient. I am one of 2.1 million Dreamers in this country. While we share many of the same concerns, we are not the same. We are all unique in our experiences, stories, and jobs. Some of us are health care workers on the frontlines fighting the coronavirus, some of us are in the food service industry, and some of us are teachers. But there are two things we hold in common: the love we have for the only country we have called home, and the fear of us being taken from it. While DACA has given us some protection against deportations, the last four years have shown us that the threat of being removed from this country is still there.

With the American Dream and Promise Act having just passed the House, and a president ready and willing to sign it, the end to that constant worry feels closer than ever.

If this bill is signed into law, it will allow undocumented immigrants or Dreamers brought to the US as children to earn permanent resident status and eventual citizenship. It also includes a path to citizenship for at least 300,000 people with temporary protected status or Deferred Enforced Departure. There is harmful anti-immigrant rhetoric that flourished under the Trump administration, and there is a case in Texas challenging the legality of the program. But this bill says Dreamers are here to say.

For many years, Dreamers have lived in a state of anxiety. We have lived with worries about the fate of DACA, whether we’ll be deported, and whether our families will be protected. Under the Biden Administration, DACA recipients have been given some sense of relief, but if the American Dream and Promise Act does not pass the Senate, Dreamers like me will continue to live in uncertainty.

I came to the US when I was two years old in 1991 with my mom. We settled in San Antonio, where I grew up. Like many Dreamers, I didn’t know I was undocumented, but there were clues about my status. My mom was wary of police officers and traveling, for instance. I found out that I was undocumented when my mom told me I couldn’t take part on a trip to the Mexico border with my high school friends because I didn’t have “papers.” A few years later, I got my undergraduate degree in education and planned to become a teacher.

I started graduate school in 2012 but questioned whether I would be able to work as an educator. Then, a couple of weeks later, DACA was announced. I was driving home from picking up a textbook, and my mom called and told me that President Obama had announced that immigrants who came to this country at a young age and have no ties to their country of origin may remain in the US and work without fear of deportation. We both cried on the phone. It meant that I could work in the field that I love, drive without fear, and live without the threat of deportation.

The Biden administration is a welcome relief after years of attacks on our immigrant community. Many undocumented folks experience wage theft – being underpaid, or exploited for their labor – food insecurity, and financial insecurity because they don’t qualify for stimulus checks and other forms of government assistance.

The Dream Act is a way to provide a pathway toward citizenship for millions of Dreamers, who many elected officials say they support. But I’ve learned that you can’t just hope for things to change. Dreamers like me will continue to fight for all immigrants, but now is the time for the Senate to finally take this major first step, and pass the American Dream and Promise Act.

Karen Reyes is a special education teacher in Austin, Texas. Reyes joined her union, AFT, in a lawsuit by the NAACP against Trump over DACA filed in 2018.

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April 2, 2021

Over 171,000 migrants were apprehended at the US border in March, the highest number in 15 years

A record number of migrants were taken into CBP custody last month, new data shows.
Over 171,000 migrants were apprehended at the US-Mexico border in March.
In January, the number taken into custody stood at 78,442.
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Over 171,000 migrants were apprehended at the US-Mexico border in March, according to a Washington Post analysis of preliminary data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

This marks the highest number of migrants taken into custody in a single month since 2006. In January, the number taken into custody stood at 78,442.

The massive uptick comes as the Biden administration is under increasing scrutiny over the situation at the border, particularly as it pertains to unaccompanied migrant children.

President Joe Biden has faced criticism over holding migrant children in jail-like facilities meant for adults over the legal limit of 72 hours, when they’re meant to be transferred from CBP to the custody of Health and Human Services. But the COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges in this regarding, leading to limited space as officials seek to uphold public health guidelines.

The Post reports that CBP took in over 18,800 unaccompanied minors in March, marking a 99% increase from February. The previous one-month high comes from May 2019 and is far lower: 11,861 minors.

There are a lot of complicated factors contributing to the situation at the border.

There is generally an uptick in migrant arrivals around spring, when the weather gets warmer, before it levels off around May. The COVID-19 pandemic also created a backlog as people waited to make the journey north. Devastating hurricanes in November that hit the Northern Triangle countries in Central America that many migrants come from – El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala – have also played a role.

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans have blamed Biden’s more welcoming messaging on immigration and his plan to provide a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented immigrants for the massive increase in arrivals. They’ve referred to the situation as a “Biden border crisis,” a characterization the White House has vehemently rejected.

That said, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently acknowledged that the number of arrivals was reaching historic levels. In a statement last month, he said, “We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.”

Democrats, especially progressive-leaning lawmakers, have been critical of the conditions children are being held in and pressured Biden to resolve the situation quickly.

Biden tapped FEMA to help with the situation, as his administration continues to urge migrants not to make the journey up to the border.

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March 31, 2021

AOC says referring to migrants coming to the US as a ‘surge’ is a white supremacist dog whistle

AOC said talking about migrants at the US-Mexico border as a “surge” pushes a white supremacist idea.
“It’s not a border crisis. It’s an imperialism crisis, it’s a climate crisis, it’s a trade crisis,” she said.
A rise in migrants and children crossing the border is a challenge for the Biden administration.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday said that referring to the rise in border crossings over the past few months as a “surge” or “invasion” smacks of white supremacy.

“So much of our national conversation, which is not a conversation, about immigration, is driven by people who could not care less about immigrants. So often, people want to say, ‘Why aren’t you talking about the border crisis?’ or ‘Why aren’t you talking about it in this way?’ Well, we’re talking about it, they just don’t like how we’re talking about it,” she said while answering questions on her Instagram Story.

“It’s not a border crisis. It’s an imperialism crisis, it’s a climate crisis, it’s a trade crisis, and also, it’s a carceral crisis,” she added, arguing that the US’ foreign policy legacy in Central America, its trade policies, and its contributions to global climate change have disproportionately affected the global South.

Ocasio-Cortez also pointed out other issues with using the word “surge.”

“Anyone who’s using the word ‘surge’ around you, consciously, is trying to invoke a militaristic frame. And that’s a problem. Because this is not a surge, these are children,” she said. “And they are not insurgents. And we are not being invaded, which, by the way, is a white supremacist idea, philosophy, the idea that if an ‘other’ is coming in the population, that this is an invasion of who we are.”

Early Wednesday, freshman GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Ocasio-Cortez of “lying” and “being a racist,” in connecting the terms “surge” to white supremacy.

The rate of encounters between border patrol officers and migrants crossing the US-Mexico border began increasing in the later months of the Trump administration and continued to rise during the first months of President Joe Biden’s administration, the Associated Press reported.

The makeup of migrants crossing the border has also included a larger share of families and children, who are subject to higher legal protections and standards than adults migrating or seeking asylum alone.

Biden has made explicit public calls discouraging potential migrants from crossing the border to the US, but his administration is still contending with how to cope with the current immigration situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration has come under scrutiny from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle as well as immigration experts and advocates over the conditions that migrant children are facing in government custody.

In Biden’s first news conference as president on March 25, reporters pressed the president on the current conditions at the border and the media’s level of access to facilities where migrants are being held.

After giving an NBC crew exclusive access to a facility run by the Department of Health and Human Services where children are being kept in custody, the administration allowed reporters from CBS News and the Associated Press into the main facility Department of Homeland Security facility in Donna, Texas on March 30.

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March 31, 2021

Photos capture the conditions of an overcrowded Texas facility where 4,000 migrants are housed

AP21089684583246 — Young children look out from inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

The Biden administration allowed journalists to tour its main border facility for the first time Tuesday.
The Texas tent facility has a capacity of 250, but more than 4,000 migrants were being held there.
Many of the migrants are unaccompanied children, according to The Associated Press.
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More than 4,000 migrants, including many children and families, are being housed in a Department of Homeland Security facility that has a capacity of 250.

AP21089687798100 — Young children lie inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

As thousands of migrant families and unaccompanied children have reached the US Southern border in recent weeks, President Joe Biden has faced increasing scrutiny over the administration’s lack of transparency.

For the first time on Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection allowed two journalists from The Associated Press and a crew from CBS to tour the Donna, Texas, facility in the Rio Grande Valley.

The visit revealed a “severely” overcrowded tent facility with a capacity of 250, housing more than 4,000 migrants crammed into pods, according to the AP.

Kids are being housed by the hundreds in eight small pods. Many had more than 500 kids in them.

Unaccompanied migrant children are processed in the tent facilities before being taken to Department of Health and Human shelters and then placed with family members or sponsors.

When journalists visited Tuesday, hundreds of kids were being housed in eight small pods about 3,200 square feet in size, the AP reported. Many reportedly had more than 500 kids in them.

US Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley told the AP that 250 to 300 children enter daily, but far fewer leave.

AP21089682151928 — Young children rest inside a pod at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

The youngest children are kept in a large play pen and monitored by a caretaker.

AP21089670716537 — Monitored by a caretaker, young unaccompanied migrants, aged from 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

Unaccompanied migrant children between the ages of 3 to 9 are kept separate from the other detainees and are housed in a small playpen with mats on the floor for sleeping, according to the AP.

When the migrants arrive at the facility, they wait to enter the intake area and be processed.

AP21089646183310 — Newly migrants wait to enter the intake area at the Donna Processing Center, run by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

They are given a health inspection and checked for lice first.

AP21089645958580 — A young migrant gets treated for possible lice before entering the intake area at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

Their hair is hosed down and checked for lice before they enter the crowded facility. Minors are checked for scabies, fever, and other ailments, according to the AP.

Nurse practitioners also give psychological tests to the unaccompanied minors, asking if they have experienced suicidal thoughts.

The facility removes all shoelaces to avoid any harm, the outlet reported.

COVID-19 tests are only administered to those who show symptoms.

AP21089646203372 — Young migrants wait to be tested for COVID-19 at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

After the medical inspections, the migrants are taken to a second intake room where they receive notices to appear in immigration court.

AP21089646311161 — Young migrants get processed at the intake area of the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

Border agents then allow the migrants to speak via phone with a US contact if they have one.

AP21089663590121 — Migrants speak to their relatives inside a phone booth after being processed at the intake area.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

Migrants older than 14 are fingerprinted and have their photos taken. Younger children do not.

AP21089657415866 — A migrant and her daughter have their biometric data entered at the intake area
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

The children are given a barcoded bracelet that shows the history of their medical checks and showers.

AP21089673629975 — Young unaccompanied migrants, wait for their turn at the secondary processing station inside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

Most of the unaccompanied minors have had long journeys to reach the border, including sections on foot, and are eager to rest.

AP21089680976758 — Young children stand or sleep insides a pod at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

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March 28, 2021

Rep. Veronica Escobar says that Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are using the southern border ‘as a prop’

Rep. Veronica Escobar said that Sens. Cruz and Cornyn are using the border “as a prop.”
Escobar said that the root causes of immigration must be addressed or the situation will not change.
“They had their chance to govern,” she said of Cruz and Cornyn. “They chose not to.”
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Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas said in a recent Daily Beast podcast interview that a southern border tour held last Friday by GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn was simply “political theater.”

During an episode of “The New Abnormal” featuring editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast, Escobar lamented that immigration has been politicized to a point where crafting real solutions has been absent from the debate.

“I think there are 18 senators that are parachuting into Texas and that delegation is led by John Cornyn and Ted Cruz,” she said. “These are people who are about to engage in political theater, use the border as a prop, [and] do a whole lot of complaining and finger-pointing. But these are the same people who’ve been in the Senate for a number of years.”

She added: “They were in the Senate when their party had control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They did not solve this problem.”

Escobar said that with the exception of former President Donald Trump’s child separation policy, the “vast majority” of his immigration policies are still in effect.

“It didn’t stop people from coming,” she said. “They had their chance to govern. They chose not to.”

The offices of Cruz and Cornyn did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

In 2014, Escobar, who represents a border district anchored in El Paso, wrote a piece called “Why the Border Crisis Is a Myth,” where she said many politicians were catering anti-immigrant sentiments to justify tightened immigration restrictions.

“What has happened repeatedly from Washington has been this idea that if we could just tough enough on the border, all of our immigration challenges will go away,” she said. “The walls kept getting bigger and taller and thicker and uglier, [with] investments in drones and personnel. Enter Donald Trump and his cruelty and dehumanization. What we now know after four years of some of the most draconian immigration policies is unless you address the root causes, you’re not going to change things much.”

She added: “The other thing that I hope we realize is that migration will happen. You cannot stop migration. People move around. What you can do is do your best as a country to work collaboratively with leaders of your hemisphere.”

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the former 2020 Democratic presidential contender and 2018 Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, recently mocked Cruz’s footage of his border excursion at the Rio Grande.

In a blurry video that Cruz posted on his Twitter account, he alleged to have observed smugglers on the other side of the US-Mexico border.

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March 27, 2021

Beto O’Rourke ridicules Ted Cruz for posting videos claiming he encountered ‘cartel members’ at the Mexican border

Ted cruz beto orourke — Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (R) unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Ted Cruz (L) in 2018.
The Hill/Twitter/Preston Ehrler/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke slammed Sen. Ted Cruz over videos he posted of himself at the Rio Grande.
In the videos posted Friday, Cruz claimed that he saw “human traffickers” who were taunting him.
O’Rourke hit back in a lengthy Twitter thread, giving Cruz tips on how to handle the border crisis.
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Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke ridiculed Sen. Ted Cruz after he posted videos of himself at the Mexican border on Friday in which he claimed that he had encounters with “cartel members” and “human traffickers.”

In a blurry video posted on Twitter, Cruz claims he is at “the shore of the Rio Grande,” and has been “listening to” and “seeing” cartel members who have been taunting border control officials.

“That’s Mexico and you can see there are three smugglers right there standing on the Mexican side looking at us. They have been shining their flashlights at us, they are yelling at us,” Cruz says in the blurry footage. The video did not show any of the alleged smugglers.

Watch the video below.

-The Hill (@thehill) March 27, 2021

Cruz was in the Rio Grande Valley with more than a dozen other Republican senators to draw attention to what they are calling President Joe Biden’s “border crisis,” The Hill reported.

The Texas senator also tweeted video footage of one of the facilities, writing: “These are the Biden cages. (Faces blurred.) Thousands of kids, in the midst of a pandemic, crammed in at 1500% capacity.”

O’Rourke, who unsuccessfully ran against Cruz for his senator seat in 2018, hit back on Friday, writing in a lengthy Twitter thread: “You’re in a Border Patrol boat armed with machine guns. The only threat you face is unarmed children and families who are seeking asylum (as well as the occasional heckler).”

“If you’re looking for a crisis to cosplay Senator for, I’m happy to point you in the right direction,” O’Rourke added.

-Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) March 26, 2021

O’Rourke then went on to give the senator tips on the border situation, adding: “If you’re ever interested in actually working on solutions to what we’re seeing at our border (instead of trafficking in seditious lies, fleeing Texas during a storm that killed more than 100, etc.), here are some ideas.”

The southern border has seen a surge of migrants since President Joe Biden took office. Many of them say they are drawn by Biden’s policies surrounding asylum seekers and immigration.

The White House said earlier this week there were more than 4,900 children still in Border Patrol custody, but that it was “making progress” on m transferring them to sites run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

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March 25, 2021

7 key takeaways from Biden’s first news conference as president

Biden gave his first solo news conference as president on Thursday.
He fielded questions on issues ranging from voting rights, foreign policy, immigration, and his plans for 2024.
Scroll down for 7 key takeaways from the presser.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Reporters on Thursday grilled President Joe Biden on a slew of issues when he gave his first solo news conference since taking office. He fielded questions on issues ranging from immigration, foreign policy, voting rights, the filibuster, and his plans for 2024.

He also gave updates on his administration’s COVID-19 response, vaccine distribution, and the economy.

Until Thursday, Biden had mainly interacted with the media by doing cable news interviews and briefly answering questions after public appearances.

Here are 7 key takeaways from Biden’s first news conference on Thursday.

Biden plans to run again in 2024

The president announced that he expects to run again in 2024 with Vice President Kamala Harris on the ticket.

“The answer is yes, my plan is to run for reelection. That’s my expectation,” Biden said, before adding that he cannot know for certain. “I’m a great respecter of fate.”

Biden also scoffed at the idea of facing Trump as his GOP challenger in 2024. “I have no idea if there will be a Republican Party,” he said.

Biden ups vaccine goal to 200 million vaccinations in first 100 days

At the top of the briefing, Biden set a new goal of the United States administering 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by his 100th day in office. Initially, the president planned to hit 100 million vaccine shots within that time frame, but the country surpassed that milestone last week.

The US has administered over 133 million vaccine doses as of Thursday, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 2.5 million doses are administered per day, The New York Times reported. At that pace, Biden is on track to fulfill his new objective by April 30, his 100th day in office.

More than 100 million stimulus checks have gone out and ‘millions more will be getting their money very soon’

Biden said that more than 100 million stimulus checks worth $1,400 have gone out so far. The checks were included in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package, known as the American Rescue Plan, that he signed into law earlier this month.

“Millions more will be getting their money very soon,” he added.

Biden reacts to surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border

The president faced several questionsabout the recent surge of unaccompanied children at the southern border. He claimed that the increase is not because he may be considered more welcoming to immigrants than former President Donald Trump, but due to the weather.

Biden also blamed the hardline immigration policies imposed by Trump and the dire living conditions of the home countries that people are fleeing from.

“I like to think it’s because I’m a nice guy, but it’s not, it’s happened every year,” Biden said. “The reason they’re coming is it’s the time they can travel with the least likelihood of dying because of the heat in the desert.”

Biden skewers GOP-backed efforts to restrict voting registration as ‘sick’ and ‘un-American’

Biden called the dozens of Republican-led bills that would restrict voting currently circulating in state legislatures “despicable,” “sick” and “un-American.”

“This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle,” Biden said. “This is gigantic, what they’re trying to do. It cannot be sustained.”

The president said his aim is for Congress to approve the For the People Act, a Democratic-sponsored bill dedicated to voting rights reform, which passed the House on March 3.

Biden agrees the filibuster is a ‘relic of the Jim Crow era’

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pointed out that former President Barack Obama said last year that the filibuster is a “relic of the Jim Crow era” and asked Biden if he agreed with the assessment.

“Yes,” Biden said.

“Why not abolish it, if it’s a relic of the Jim Crow era?” Collins pressed.

Biden replied, “Successful electoral politics is the art of the possible. Let’s figure out how we can get this done and move in the direction of significantly changing the abuse of even the filibuster rule first. It’s been abused from the time it came into being by an extreme way in the last 20 years. Let’s deal with the abuse first.”

“You’re moving closer to eliminating the filibuster. Is that correct?” Collins asked.

“I answered your question,” the president said.

Biden said he ‘can’t picture’ US troops being in Afghanistan next year

Reporters pressed the president on whether the administration would meet the May 1 deadline Biden had set as a candidate to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.

“We will leave,” Biden said. “The question is when we will leave.” Asked if he expected US troops to be in Afghanistan next year, he said, “I can’t picture that being the case.”

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March 23, 2021

Human-rights groups are urging the Biden administration to get children out of the makeshift Border Patrol facilities

border patrol migrant children temporary processing facility in Donna, Texas — A temporary processing facility in Donna, Texas, seen on March 17, 2021.
Jaime Rodriguez Sr/US Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs

Human-rights groups are calling out the Biden administration for crowded Border Patrol facilities.
The government is holding migrant children in “inappropriate” detention centers, human-rights groups told Insider.
These facilities have not yet been seen by journalists, but government-shared videos show children in crowded spaces and sleeping on mats just inches off the floor.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

As shocking videos and images began to emerge showing the inside of various Border Patrol facilities where migrant children are being held in Texas, human-rights groups are calling out the crowded conditions.

These organizations say the holding facilities are inappropriate for children, and they’re urging the Biden administration to find different solutions to temporary migrant housing.

On Monday, Rep. Henry Cuellar shared with Insider photos that gave the public a first look into migrant facilities under the Biden administration.

In these photos, dozens of masked children can be seen lying down on gray mats. Some are crowded into corners, despite the threat of the coronavirus spreading. Others are simply sitting on the floor.

migrant children border patrol facility us mexico border biden administration — A Border Patrol facility in Donna, Texas, housing migrant children on the weekend of March 20, 2021.
Courtesy of the Office of Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

On Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection, under pressure from journalists who have repeatedly requested access into the facilities, posted two videos of the inside of various holding centers that were taken last week. The Biden administration has so far barred journalists from viewing and entering the facilities, citing privacy and coronavirus concerns.

These government-produced and -released videos showed that dozens of children are being held in crowded conditions that lawmakers believe will evolve into a humanitarian crisis. Many children are seen sleeping on mats just inches off the floor. Groups of them sit in plastic-enclosed spaces, clutching foil blankets as they sleep. There are few adults in each space.

It’s these conditions that human-rights organizations are calling inappropriate.

“Border Patrol stations are not an appropriate place to hold children and asylum seekers,” Clara Long, associate director at Human Rights Watch, told Insider.

Former President Donald Trump has been out of office for two months now. But experts say his administration has had a lasting impact on how the Biden administration is navigating immigration policy.

“What we’re seeing is the consequence of dedicated negligence from the previous administration – a lack of planning and resources invested in facilities to welcome children seeking safety, who were already arriving,” said Denise Bell, Amnesty International’s researcher for refugee and migrant rights.

“And that is where we must focus: the children who are seeking safety,” Bell added. “The conditions need to be much better and much faster.”

Temporary Processing Facilities cbp migrant children border patrol — A Border Patrol temporary processing facility in Donna, Texas, for migrant children and families, pictured March 17, 2021.
Jaime Rodriguez Sr/US Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs

During the 2020 presidential election, Biden positioned himself as a pro-immigration candidate focused on bettering the system for incoming migrants.

In January 2019, for example, Biden slammed Trump’s idea to build a wall along the southern border. “We need border security but that’s not the border security we need,” he said.

Now that he’s in office, Biden is working to deliver on promises he made on the campaign trail, enacting measures to reverse controversial Trump-era policies.

These key changes put forth by the Biden administration, however, have led to thousands of migrants – and many unaccompanied children – traveling to the US-Mexico border from Central America as they flee persecution, violence, and poverty in their home countries.

According to senior administration officials, CBP had approximately 4,500 unaccompanied minors in holding as of Thursday, while the Department of Health and Human Services has more than 9,000 children in its care.

In an attempt to mitigate the surge of migrants, the Biden administration has opened up various Border Patrol facilities for temporary housing.

“The Biden administration inherited a broken, diminished system,” Long said. “It’s not surprising that things are taking a while to get in to hand. What we need to see from the Biden administration is consistent progress toward the goals it has articulated: humane and dignified border reception, holistic policy responses to migration and access to protection for those who need it.”

For its part, the Biden administration is taking steps to limit immigration to the border.

The State Department has created more than 17,100 ads since January 21 to discourage people from migrating. These ads have reached about 15 million people, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a Monday briefing.

It’s not clear whether this approach to limit immigration to the United States is working.

“This is just part of our effort to send a clear message,” Psaki said. “But there is no question that funding is needed to address the root causes in these countries.”

White House officials and immigration experts have so far refrained from calling the surge a crisis. But the Biden administration recognizes that the facilities are not meant for long-term accommodations.

“These Border Patrol facilities are not places made for children,” Psaki said. “They are not places that we want children to be staying for an extended period of time. Our alternative is to send children back on this treacherous journey – that is not, in our view, the right choice to make.”

Detention is psychologically damaging to children

The children are held in border facilities as they await transfer to other federal agencies. The government is required to transfer migrant children to Health and Human Services custody within 72 hours. But with the influx of unaccompanied minors coming to the US-Mexico border, nearly 3,000 children have been held beyond that limit, CBS News reported.

“Even short stays in detention centers have the potential to be traumatic experiences,” said Kathryn Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University.

“We know from our research on orphanage care that children fare best when they have reduced exposure to group-based care and long-term family-based placements when they form relationships with those that are their parents or parent-figures,” she added.

CPB and HHS custody and detention centers qualify as group-based care. Such environments normally do not allow children to form the type of relationships with adults that help them grow and develop, Humphreys told Insider.

Adults help “co-regulate children, both emotionally and physiologically,” she said. Going without these trusted adults, even for short periods of time, can lead to stress in children and them falling behind developmentally, socially, and academically.

The Biden administration is “obligated to hold children in conditions that meet United States and international standards that support their best interests,” Bell of Amnesty International said. “Children must be held in conditions that meet their best interests and safely reunified with families and sponsors much more quickly.”

“This is a time for transformation – as the administration adapts right now, it must also set in motion the changes needed for a new system where detention is not assumed and children are with their parents and sponsors,” Bell added.

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March 22, 2021

Photos show the crowded conditions where migrant kids are being held at the US-Mexico border

Inside the Texas Border Patrol facility
Courtesy of the Office of Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

Photos, which Rep. Henry Cuellar shared, show crowded conditions in a Texas Border Patrol facility.
An estimated 13,500 migrant children were in government custody as of Thursday.
The Biden administration hasn’t let journalists independently visit the facilities.
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The number of unaccompanied migrant children detained at the US-Mexico border has continued to rise throughout the first three months of 2021.

According to senior administration officials, US Customs and Border Protection had approximately 4,500 unaccompanied minors in holding as of Thursday, while the Department of Health and Human Services has more than 9,000 children currently in its care.

The Biden administration has opened up various Border Patrol facilities to house these incoming migrants.

At one facility in Donna, Texas, pictured above, adults and children sit in what appears to be makeshift rooms separating out groups of people.

Each room is cordoned off by what looks like a plastic enclosure, drawing comparisons to jail cells. Journalists have so far been prohibited from viewing and entering the facilities. These photos, shared with Insider by Rep. Henry Cuellar, provide insight into the conditions.

Dozens of masked children can be seen lying down on gray mats. Some are crowded into corners, despite the threat of the coronavirus spreading. Others appear to sit on the floor.

Nearly 3,000 children detained by Border Patrol have been held beyond the 72-hour limit permitted by federal law before a child must be moved to an HHS facility, CBS News reported.

The situation at the border is quickly turning into a political firestorm, and is poised to generate more concern as people see the conditions inside the facilities.

Key changes — such as measures to reverse controversial Trump-era policies — have led to thousands of migrants, and many unaccompanied children, to come to the US-Mexico border from Central America.

Republicans, including the former president, have taken the surge as an opportunity to bash the Biden administration.

Former President Donald Trump in a statement derided Biden’s newly instated immigration agenda.

He said the reversal of his own policies led to a rise in migration at the southern border.

Lawmakers fear that the surge will become a humanitarian crisis, as Border Patrol agents, for example, struggle to care or provide resources for incoming groups. The potential spread of the coronavirus among these groups of people only exacerbates that concern.

The Biden administration has implemented changes that aim to treat migrants fairly and humanely, in an attempt to overhaul Trump’s immigration policies.

In a Monday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refrained from calling the surge a “crisis” at the border, saying the White House is working with different government agencies including HHS to “ensure we’re following COVID protocols.”

“Children presenting at our border who are fleeing violence, who are fleeing prosecution, who are fleeing terrible situations, is not a crisis,” she said. “We feel that it is our responsibility to humanely approach this circumstance and make sure they are treated and put into conditions that are safe.”

Psaki also insisted that the Biden administration wants to “make sure the media has access to these sites,” but did not give a concrete timeline on when that would happen.

“These photos show what we’ve long been saying, which is that these Border Patrol facilities are not places made for children,” she added. “They are not places that we want children to be staying for an extended period of time. Our alternative is to send children back on this treacherous journey — that is not, in our view, the right choice to make.”

The State Department is broadcasting to people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, and Mexico that now is not a good time to come to the US, but the administration still has to deal with all the migrant children who are currently here.

Psaki also played up the strategies the Biden administration is doling out to cap the number of people traveling to the US, particularly from the Northern Triangle countries.

The State Department, for example, has created more than 17,100 ads since January 21 to discourage people from migrating. These ads have reached about 15 million people, Psaki said on Monday.

It’s not clear whether this approach to limit immigration to the United States is working.

“This is just part of our effort to send a clear message,” Psaki said. “But there is no question that funding is needed to address the root causes in these countries.”

In anticipation of a surge in migrant traffic, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been ordered to facilitate a “government-wide effort” that would “safely receive, shelter, and transfer unaccompanied children who make the dangerous journey to the US southwest border.”

Biden has a number of solutions he could try to implement to deal with the thousands of migrant children coming to the US-Mexico border. Experts recommend against holding kids in jail-like settings.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also said the surge is not equivalent to a crisis at the border and that the administration is strategizing potential ways to contain it.

That could take the form of opening more facilities near the southern border, for example.

Experts generally agree that this surge is not a crisis yet, but can turn into one.

To prevent a real crisis, experts told Insider’s Erin Snodgrass there are numerous steps the Biden administration could follow:

Revoke Title 42, the Trump-era order that effectively halted all crossings at the border in the name of COVID-19 prevention.
Increase federal funding and resources to both address the growing numbers of migrants and avoid the horrific conditions that often come with influxes.
Avoid placing children in carceral settings or unlicensed facilities. They should instead be kept in child-appropriate settings with small group settings and a high staff-to-child ratio.

Insider’s Erin Snodgrass contributed to this report.

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March 22, 2021

GOP Sen. John Cornyn lamented on Twitter that the Biden administration treats all immigrants humanely

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas — Sen. John Cornyn is a member of the GOP leadership team.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. John Cornyn attacked the Biden administration for emphasizing the “humane treatment” of all immigrants.
Cornyn noted on Twitter that prior Democratic presidents opposed undocumented immigration.
Hours later, Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema sent a letter to Biden asking for more border resources.
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As Republican legislators continue to press President Joe Biden over a surge of immigrants at the US-Mexico border, Texas Sen. John Cornyn attacked Biden on Twitter for his administration’s “humane” treatment of undocumented immigrants.

Cornyn posted a string of tweets on Monday describing how former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton took stances against undocumented immigration. The Republican senator then noted that Biden has “emphasized the human treatment” of all immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

-Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 22, 2021

The comments drew criticism online, as some questioned why humane treatment was being portrayed as a bad thing. Democratic Virginia Rep. Don Beyer called Cornyn’s attack an “incredible new low.”

-Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) March 22, 2021

Cornyn’s press team did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Hours after tweeting against Biden’s “humane treatment of immigrants,” Cornyn sent a letter to the president alongside Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona asking for more executive action regarding border migration.

The note specifically asked for more resources at the border facilities as well as a streamlined version of the asylum process to treat the mounting immigration case backlog.

-Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) March 22, 2021

The Biden administration has faced scrutiny for its border policy as officials reported a surge in child detentions at the border.

Over 15,000 unaccompanied minor immigrants are currently being held by Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the Washington Post. The CBP told Insider that it encounters 337 unaccompanied migrant children on average per day.

Biden addressed the growing number of migrants seeking to cross the border in an interview with ABC News last week, telling Central American migrants not to come to the US.

“Yes, I can say quite clearly,” Biden said. “Don’t come over… don’t leave your town or city or community.”

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