Why thousands of kids are seeking asylum in US
Migrant children are trying to get into the US
A closer look at what’s causing the growing issue with migrant children arriving at the Mexican border.
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s administration faces a growing issue at the U.S.-Mexican border, where an increasing number of migrant children seeking asylum are detained.
Though the White House has maintained the border is closed, migrant children are let in rather than being turned away because officials said it would be too dangerous for them to make their journey back to their home countries on their own.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Tuesday “the situation at the southwest border is difficult.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., said Sunday called the situation a “humanitarian crisis,” a label the Biden administration has avoided. Republicans on Capitol Hill label the surge of migrant children as “Biden’s border crisis.”
Question: Is there a surge of migrants at the border?
Answer: The number of unaccompanied migrant children seeking asylum at the nation’s southern border began rising late last year, before Biden was inaugurated as president.
As of Sunday morning, more than 4,200 unaccompanied migrant children were being held in short-term holding facilities, according to CBS News. Of those, 3,000 had been there longer than 72 hours. Migrant children are supposed to be moved from the short-term facilities within 72 hours. The facilities are jail-like and not suited for long-term containment.
Mayorkas noted Tuesday the United States is on “pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.” U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reports “encounters,” in addition to apprehensions. Therefore, the numbers include repeated crossings by single individuals. For example, in El Paso, Texas, the average for one adult is 10 crossings.
“The administration has opened no legal way for people to come into the United States so this is going to continue to happen,” said Linda Rivas, executive director for the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which provides pro bono legal assistance in El Paso. “We would love to see an end to Title 42 but we could also just simply reopen the ports and make them functional again and allow asylum seekers to present themselves at the port. It’s taking so long.”
The Biden administration said it’s seeing more migrants because of the change of rhetoric from President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.
“Surges tend to respond to hope, and there was a significant hope for a more humane policy after four years of ... pent-up demand,” Roberta Jacobson, special assistant to the president and coordinator for the southern border, said last week. “I certainly think that the idea that a more humane policy would be in place may have driven people to make that decision.”
In his first weeks in office, Biden stopped construction on a border wall and began unwinding several of Trump’s policies, such as stopping the Migrant Protection Protocol, which forced migrants to wait for U.S. immigration hearings in Mexico.
The Biden administration has kept one key policy in place from the Trump administration, Title 42, which allows the Border Patrol to expel undocumented migrants to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in holding facilities.
“Hope” isn’t the only factor driving migrants to the border. Experts said the trend happens every spring.
Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, said immigration patterns are “cyclical,” and historically, the United States has seen a rise in migrants seeking asylum during the springtime.
Mayorkas said the United States experienced surges of migrants in 2019 and 2014.
Hinojosa-Ojeda said some of the migrants held by the United States waited in Mexican border towns for years because of Trump policies, including the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as “Remain in Mexico.”
“We’re basically sopping up a pentup demand that’s been kept in Mexico,” Hinojosa-Ojeda said.
Q: What does the White House tell migrants?
A: Biden and his administration asked migrants seeking asylum to not make the journey to the USA right now.
In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Biden said “we’re sending back people” who cross the border.
“I can say quite clearly, don’t come over ... don’t leave your city or town or community,” Biden said.
In El Paso, the Border Patrol expels dozens of unauthorized migrants each day to Juarez just south of the border, including single adults and families. They are dropped at the top of the Paso del Norte bridge, then walk to Mexico.
Mayorkas and Jacobson said it’s going to take time for the Biden administration to set up a pathway to legalization.
As part of Biden’s comprehensive immigration bill, the administration wants funding to set up facilities in Central America, so individuals could apply for asylum in their home country to avoid making the dangerous journey to the U.S.-Mexican border.
Q: The border is closed, so why are migrants being let in?
A: The Biden administration is not turning away migrant children. Some children present themselves at the border alone; others come with a relative or older sibling.
“The president and our administration has made a decision that the way to humanely approach immigration is to allow for unaccompanied minors to come and be treated with humanity and be in a safe place while we’re trying to get them into new homes,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week.
Under the Trump administration, unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico were never sent to Mexico under Title 42. Unaccompanied migrant children were put up in hotels and flown back to their home countries under the policy.
Q: What happens to the children once they get to the USA?
A: Some are transferred to holding facilities. Children are supposed to be sent to temporary overflow facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The administration has faced issues in trying to quickly move young children out of the Border Patrol holding facilities. The issues are largely due to limited space in the HHS facilities under social distancing guidelines. The CDC updated those guidelines to return these facilities to full capacity.
Psaki said it takes longer for children to be moved to sponsors because the administration is undertaking a thorough vetting process of sponsors. Many of those seeking asylum have parents or family members in the USA.
In an effort to speed up the vetting process, the Biden administration announced last Friday it terminated an agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and HHS that allowed certain information on prospective sponsors of unaccompanied children to be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.