Amid criticism for the reopening of a Trump-era facility for migrant children, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it was a “difficult choice” to reopen the facilities in Carrizo Springs, Texas, but the best option available.
The government opened a facility to house up to 700 teenage immigrants after they crossed the US-Mexico border unaccompanied by their parents. The first teenagers arrived Monday at Carrizo Springs, which was converted two years ago into a detention facility under former President Donald Trump, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The facility has been closed since July 2019.
“Are they children in containers instead of children in cages?” Peter Doocy of Fox News asked Psaki.
“We have a series of unaccompanied minors entering the country without their families,” replied Psaki. “What we are not doing is what the last government did, which was to separate these children, to pull them out of their parents’ arms at the border.”
AOC RIP AT BIDEN ADMIN TO REOPEN THE MIGRANT INSTALLATION FOR CHILDREN: ‘THIS IS NOT OK’
Psaki said there are limited options on how to deal with children arriving alone at the border: sending them home on a “dangerous journey”, quickly placing them with unapproved families and sponsors, or reopening detention facilities .
An increasing number of children have been taken into custody of migrants along the southern border in recent days, hampering the government’s ability to shelter them.
Psaki added that the new facilities for migrant children were opened to make room for social detachment. She emphasized that the detention facilities were administered by HHS and were “refurbished” and equipped with teachers and medical staff.
Doocy also asked Psaki about reports that hundreds of children were detained by Customs and Border Patrol in a temporary facility for more than 72 hours, the legal limit before being transferred to an HHS facility. Psaki said there were delays due to the weather and the lack of capacity to handle the flow of children. “Some, unfortunately, stayed four days, five days or more, but the goal is to move them as quickly as possible to an HHS-sponsored facility.”
PSAKI DEFENDS REOPENING OF MIGRANT FACILITY
Progressives invaded the new facilities for migrants. “This is not well, it has never been well, it will never be well – no matter the administration or the party,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y. wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
She added: “It is only 2 months for this administrator and our unfair and charged immigration system will not change in that time. That is why bold reimagination is so important. DHS should not exist, agencies should be reorganized, ICE has to go , ban on – profitable detention, creation of climate refugee status and more. “
Biden said his immigration agenda “will take time” to be implemented, in order to avoid an increase in the border. After weeks in office, he signed executive orders establishing a task force to reunite families that had been separated and initiate a review of the Trump era program, which required migrants on the southern border to remain in Mexico while their asylum applications were processed.
The Trump administration has imposed a “zero tolerance” policy that has led to family separations, meaning that anyone caught crossing the border illegally would be prosecuted criminally, even if they had few or no prior convictions. The policy has led to thousands of family separations and reports that some families have not yet met today.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Under this policy, adults were taken to court for criminal prosecution, while their children were separated from them. If the charges took more than 72 hours to process, the children would be sent from Customs and Border Protection care to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Trump, however, signed an order to prevent family separations in 2018.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.