The Federal Emergency Management Agency will help to house and transfer a record number of migrant children appearing on the United States’ border with Mexico, the Secretary of Homeland Security said on Saturday,
Although President Joe Biden’s government has avoided calling the situation a national emergency, as former President Donald Trump declared in 2019, he has recognized an increasing number of “meetings” at the border since April.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said that FEMA would help children found on the border avoid being treated as detained by Customs and Border Protection and transfer them more quickly to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
From there, he said, children can be placed with a family member or sponsor until their immigration cases are processed.
“I have said many times that the Border Patrol facilities are not a place for children,” Mayorkas said in a note.
FEMA will find and expand facilities suitable for children, the Department of Homeland Security said, and the accompanied adults and children will continue to be returned to Mexico.
Homeland Security officials said the volunteers would also be part of the effort to find shelter for migrant children.
So many unaccompanied minors were showing up at the border in late winter that some observers believe a new humanitarian crisis may be brewing.
More than 3,200 unaccompanied migrant children are being housed in Customs and Border Protection facilities, NBC News reported on Monday. More than half were held in so-called “ice boxes”, not intended for children, because detainees can only be held in cells for a maximum of three days.
Geoff Bennett contributed.