Nine senators on Saturday sent a letter to the Biden government condemning its way of dealing with the flow of migrants arriving at the border between the United States and Mexico and calling for more “clarity”.
Senate Judiciary Committee Classification Member, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, led the letter signed by members of the Republican Sens committee. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn .; Thom Tillis, RN.C .; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Josh Hawley, R-Mo .; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Tom Cotton, R-Ark .; and John Kennedy, R-La.
“Regardless of what the Biden government wants to call this set of circumstances that it created, this increase in illegal immigration carries significant risks,” wrote the senators to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra . “It also imposes a heavy burden on public resources”.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) walks over to a Republican caucus lunch. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images)
The senators added that “Congress and the American people must have additional clarity on how DHS and HHS are handling” the situation at the border.
There were 30,077 seizures at the border in February 2020. In February of this year, Customs and Border Patrol found 100,441 migrants on the southern border – an increase of 28% over January 2021 – and carried out 72,113 evictions.
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Approximately 9,500 unaccompanied minors are in the custody of HHS, while about 4,500 are awaiting processing at CBP’s facilities, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
CBP cannot expel children under US law, so they are temporarily held in facilities like the one in northeastern El Paso, which has a capacity of 1,040 migrants. The El Paso facility and others on the southern border are expanding to the maximum, creating conditions of overcrowding amid the coronavirus pandemic, while the Biden government works to find more space and resources for those arriving at the border.
Travelers on the left, waiting in line to cross a customs area for the United States on the McAllen-Hidalgo international bridge, observe a group of migrants, on the right, being deported to Reynosa, Mexico. (AP Photo / Julio Cortez)
“The capture and release policies pose additional public health risks in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote the senators. “The Biden administration has expressed an alleged commitment to an end to the pandemic; however, the news suggests that it now plans to keep some of those detained by DHS personnel in custody for just 72 hours before releasing them in American communities.”
On Friday, Mayorkas visited a CBP facility in El Paso, where he received a briefing “on the processing, shelter and transfer of unaccompanied children”, along with a bipartisan group of senators, according to DHS. He did not speak to the press.
FIRST PHOTO INSIDE THE EL PASO MIGRANT CENTER OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS, HOW THE SITUATION OF THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER INTENSIFIES
Republicans argued that Biden’s immediate reversal of Trump-era policies created the current flow of migrants on the border, although the number of border encounters has increased since April 2020, according to the CBP.
Trump’s critics argue that the former president’s “Stay in Mexico” policy puts migrants seeking US citizenship at risk of trafficking and violence in that country.
In this drone photo, migrants are seen in custody in a United States Customs and Border Protection processing area under the Anzalduas International Bridge, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Mission, Texas. . (AP Photo / Julio Cortez)
The nine senators are asking for more information from DHS and HHS, including an analysis of the number of migrants detained since January 20, the number of migrants tested and vaccinated for COVID-19, estimates of how long individuals spend in CBP custody before and after the test, and future border seizure projections.
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More than 40 House Republicans also sent a letter to Beccera on Friday expressing “extreme concern” about the number of unaccompanied minors arriving at the border.
Several Republican Party lawmakers have traveled or have plans to travel to the southern border to obtain first-hand accounts of the situation. Blackburn is traveling to Arizona on Sunday to “get the facts and see the crisis first hand,” she said in a statement.