Migrant kids still separated from nonparents at border
The Biden administration is still sheltering children separated from close family members in federal facilities for weeks on end – something immigrant advocates and attorneys had hoped the new administration would have resolved by now.
Biden administration officials have signaled they are pivoting away from Trump administration policies they felt were inhumane toward migrants, especially children. But as federal agents grapple with a rising numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, what to do with the children who come with an adult who is not their parent is a growing concern.
Children often arrive with a grandparent, older sibling or other relative but are separated until federal officials can confirm the accompanying adult is their relative, as mandated under U.S. law. The procedure, different from the controversial Trump administration policy of separating immigrant mothers and fathers from their children, is designed to protect minors from human traffickers and grant them legal protections.
But it also classifies the youngsters as “unaccompanied minors” and places them in federal shelters until a sponsor or adult is vetted, a process that can take several weeks or even months.
Although not as dramatic as Trump administration-era family separations, which unleashed a furious backlash, separating children from other close relatives could be equally detrimental, said Lisa Koop, associate director of legal services at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a legal advocacy group that represents immigrant youth.
“It really does look and feel in many ways like a parent-child separation,” Koop said. “The trauma of the separation is very similar.”
A growing wave of unaccompanied children at the border is fast becoming President Joe Biden’s first major immigration challenge. More than 4,000 migrant children were transferred in January to the custody of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency tasked with caring for them once they cross the border, up from 3,330 in December and nearly four times the number that arrived in October, according to agency statistics.
At a press briefing Friday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki reemphasized that the Biden administration intends to take a different approach to processing the children than former President Donald Trump did.
“We’re going to chart our own path forward,” she said. “And that includes treating children with humanity and respect and ensuring they’re safe when they cross our borders.”
But where to house the children as they await immigration proceedings remains a daunting question. The resettlement agency oversees about 7,000 beds for the minors because of reduced capacity from COVID-19 restrictions, and last week it had about 7,700 migrant children in its custody. Some of the children were being housed in a temporary shelter with no state oversight.
Federal officials were housing 224 of the children at a temporary shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which has drawn criticism from advocates. The 700-bed facility was shuttered in July 2019 after the Trump administration faced blowback for poor conditions at a number of temporary shelters that housed unaccompanied children. Biden reopened the facility last week.
Among the thousands of children appearing at the border are those who show up with an adult other than their parent.
The exact number of minors who show up with an adult other than a parent is unknown. The resettlement agency referred questions about that group to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman on Friday said the agency doesn’t keep those statistics.
Under the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008, children who show up with an adult who is not their parent are classified as unaccompanied minors to make sure that they’re placed in less restrictive facilities, avoid expedited deportation status and their immigration case is presented as an interview in front of an asylum officer rather than a more formal court setting.