The Biden government is considering sending migrants to states near the Canadian border for processing amid a series of attempts to cross the southern border.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is requesting planes that would allow the transport of migrants to northern states, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The request was made after 1,000 family members and unaccompanied minors crossed Rio Grande on Friday morning, and border authorities are still working to prosecute another group of 1,000 migrants who arrived on Thursday night.
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill. CBP denied that any plans to move migrants to northern states are underway.
“CBP continually evaluates possible contingency plans and adjusts its operations as circumstances dictate, but there are currently no plans to transfer migrants from the southwest border to the northern or coast borders,” the agency told The Hill.
The proposed flight is the latest sign that the Biden government is fighting an increase in the number of migrants flocking to the southern border.
While most authorities are moving away, they are admitting an increasing number of unaccompanied minors who appear at the border. More than 14,000 minors who traveled to the United States without their families are currently in federal custody, an official said on Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services has more than 9,500 migrant children on its premises, while CBP has about 4,500. Evidence has emerged that minors remain in adult CBP cells for longer than legally permitted.
The Biden government has denied that the situation at the border is a “crisis”, rather than labeling it a “challenge”. However, it mobilized extensive resources to try to improve the situation on the ground, including ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give $ 110 million to nonprofit groups and government agencies to provide help to families and children who cross the border.
The government was criticized for preventing the media from covering the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas
Alejandro MayorkasMore than 14,000 migrant children in U.S. custody: official Republicans call for a hearing on the increase at the Biden border to send excess doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico, Canada MORESteven’s visit to the southern border on Friday, prompting criticism from activists that officials are being insufficiently transparent on the matter.