Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Saturday that he had instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support a “government effort” to house migrant children – as the numbers continue to rise.
The agency will support the effort to “receive, shelter and safely transfer unaccompanied children” trying to enter the United States. He noted that there was a “record number of individuals, including unaccompanied children, on the southwestern border”.
THE WORD THAT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT USE WHEN IT IS THE BORDER? CRISIS
“I am grateful for the exceptional talent and responsiveness of the FEMA team,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “I am extremely proud of the Border Patrol agents, who have been working around the clock in difficult circumstances to care for children temporarily in our care. However, as I have said many times, a Border Patrol facility is not a place for a child. “
“We are working in partnership with HHS to address the needs of unaccompanied children, which is made even more difficult by the protocols and restrictions required to protect public health and the health of the children themselves,” he said. “Our goal is to ensure that unaccompanied children are transferred to HHS as soon as possible, in accordance with legal requirements and in the best interests of the children.”
DHS said that FEMA “is now integrated and co-located with HHS to examine all options available to rapidly expand physical capacity for appropriate accommodation.”
Representative John Katko, a Republican on the House’s Internal Security Committee, said it was a sign that there was a crisis at the border – something the government has so far refused to call it.
“In doing so, they are admitting that there is a crisis, although they do not say it,” he told the Fox Report.
He accused the agency of “stripping” resources that could be used to fight the coronavirus pandemic, such as the distribution of vaccines, to focus on expanding the border.
“This is outrageous,” he said.
MCCARTHY SAYS BIDEN HAS NOT RESPONDED TO HIS REQUEST FOR A BORDER MEETING, HOW THE GOP LINKS A CRISIS TO ITS POLICIES
It is the latest move by the government to deal with a dramatic increase in migrants – including unaccompanied children – in recent weeks. Although it has been observed that many of these migrants can be returned under Title 42 public health protections, migrant children cannot.
CBP found 100,441 individuals in February, an increase of 28 percent over January, the agency said. Of these, 19,246 individuals belonged to family units; 9,457 were unaccompanied children (UACs) and 71,598 were single adults.
The number of migrant children in custody along the border has tripled in the past two weeks to more than 3,250. In the meantime, it is opening more facilities, including the possibility of using a Virginia military base and a NASA facility – and closing capacity limits due to COVID-19 in order to deal with the increase in migrant children.
Republicans and immigration hawks blamed Biden’s policies for encouraging the increase – particularly his reversal of Trump-era border protections, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and asylum cooperation agreements with countries in the North Triangle, as well as his appeal along paths for citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.
“The Biden government is not dealing with the crisis, it is exacerbating it,” RJ Hauman, director of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said in a statement. “This is yet another message that will be heard loud and clear by human smugglers and by everyone in Central America – keep coming to our southern border, things will go well when you get here.”
Mayorkas made a call to the DHS team to volunteer to help CBP, calling the numbers “overwhelming”. Meanwhile, CBP acting commissioner Troy Miller said this week that “we continue to struggle with the number of individuals in our custody, especially in a pandemic.”
But the government doggedly refused to call it a crisis, with Mayorkas a week earlier, calling it just a “challenge”.
THE BORDER MEETS THE 100,000 BEST IN FEBRUARY AS SPIRALS OF MIGRANT CRISIS
He maintained that stance this week, with several officials refusing to say the word “crisis”.
“You know, I think … I’m not trying to be cute here, but I think the fact of the matter is: we have to do what we do regardless of what someone calls the situation,” Roberta Jacobson, coordinator for the southern border, said in a press conference on Wednesday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
“And the fact is that we are all focused on improving the situation, on moving to a more humane and efficient system. And whatever you call it, it wouldn’t change what we’re doing because we have an urgent need, from the president down, to fix our system and make sure we’re dealing better with the hopes and dreams of these migrants in their home country, Is it over there.