The Border Patrol encountered 18,663 unaccompanied children in March, a record.

U.S. policy releases unaccompanied youngsters to ‘sponsors’

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government picked up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border in March, authorities said Thursday, the largest monthly number recorded and a test for President Joe Biden as he reverses many of his predecessor’s immigration tactics.

The Biden administration has decided to exempt unaccompanied children from pandemic-related powers to immediately expel most people from the country without giving them an opportunity to seek asylum. Children are released to “sponsors” in the U.S., usually parents or relatives, while being allowed to pursue their cases in backlogged immigration courts.

The Border Patrol encountered 18,663 unaccompanied children in March, above previous highs of 11,475 in May 2019 and 10,620 in

June 2014. The agency started publishing the numbers in 2009. Before then, adults made up the majority of those crossing the border.

March’s count was roughly double the number of unaccompanied children encountered by the Border Patrol in February and more than five times the number in March 2020.

The increase in children traveling alone — some as young as 3 — and families has strained border holding facilities, which aren’t allowed to hold people for more than three days but often do.

Amid the growing numbers, more than 4,000 people at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding facility have been jammed into a space designed for 250 at a tent complex in Donna, Texas. They lay inches apart on mats on the floor with foil blankets.

CBP must transfer unaccompanied children within 72 hours to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, whose facilities

are more suited to longer-term care while arrangements are made to release them. More than 2,000 children were held longer than that at the Donna facility one day last week, with 39 there at least 15 days.

Overall, the Border Patrol had 168,195 encounters with migrants on the southern border in March, its busiest month since March 2001, when it counted 170,580 arrests.

People who are expelled are more likely to try again because they face no legal consequences.

Unlike expulsions, people arrested under immigration laws can face jail time, felony prosecution for repeat offenses and bans on entering the country legally through marriage or other means.

Biden administration officials said 28 percent of expulsions in March were people who had been expelled before, compared with a 7 percent pre-pandemic recidivism rate for the 12-month period that ended in September 2019.