‘How can they do this to a child?’
Even with parents already in U.S., release of migrant kids slow
During the 10 days Andrea’s 6-year-old son, Juan, was held in government custody after crossing the Southwest border with his grandmother, the Venezuelan mother who lives in California said she called government officials several times a day, trying to arrange his release.
While officials seemed in no rush to recognize Andrea as Juan’s mother, those caring for him continued to call her so she could parent him over the phone. First it was someone at Border Patrol at 4 a.m. on a Saturday as Juan was separated from his grandmother and refused to get on a bus.
The next day, it was a social worker who could not get the distraught child to eat. Then a foster mother called when Juan would not go to sleep one night.
“How can they do this to a child?” said Andrea, 37, who goes by her middle name and did not want her last name used because she did not want to jeopardize her asylum case. “He’s never been separated from his family.”
Like most migrant children who cross the border without their parents, Juan seemed destined to spend weeks in the government’s care, as his case slowly worked its way through a bureaucratic system that has been overwhelmed by an unprecedented number of migrant children and teenagers arriving without their parents. The delay takes a deep emotional toll on them. And it exacts a steep financial cost, too: The government estimates it spends $775 per day to shelter and care for a migrant child at an emergency shelter.
Andrea eventually enlisted the help of immigrant rights advocates and traveled last week from her home in California to Arizona, where Juan was being held. Flanked by members of the media, she and an advocate demanded that her son be released — and, under pressure, he was.
The U.S. government has never had so many migrant teens and children in its care, with more than 20,000 held in Health and Human Services shelters and another 2,200 in border facilities waiting for shelter beds to open up.
More than 40 percent of the minors released by the government have at least one parent already living in the United States, but HHS has been taking 25 days on average to approve release and grant custody to the mother or father, a number that dipped to 22 days Thursday, according to the latest internal data reviewed by the Washington Post. It takes an average of 33 days to release minors to other immediate relatives, such as siblings.
Federal officials say they are scrambling to speed up reunifications, streamlining requirements and even offering to pay for parents’ transportation costs.
But lawyers, lawmakers and White House officials are urging them to act faster, saying the prolonged detentions are traumatizing children and putting them at risk of catching the coronavirus.
For the past several weeks, the Biden administration has been chiefly focused on reducing the number of children held in cramped Customs and Border Protection tents and jails. Officials have rushed to open emergency shelters to temporarily house them at convention centers, military bases and converted oil worker camps. This effort costs at least $60 million per week, according to an analysis of government estimates, and is expected to continue for months.
The government’s effort to stand up shelters instead of more quickly placing children with their parents and relatives has accelerated concerns among advocates and lawyers.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers warned the Biden administration in a letter last week that the fast-expanding emergency shelters should be used sparingly because they “are not state-licensed, not appropriate for prolonged operation, and in the past have been plagued by violations and abuses.” They urged officials to “facilitate the quick and safe release of children” to their parents, vetted relatives or other sponsors.
HHS has acknowledged in court records that it has been straining to add case workers. The vetting process often does not begin for days and after children such as Juan are out of Border Patrol custody, which in his case took about a week.