The DHS chief says the border is closed, he will not give a deadline for facilities capable of handling the increase in unaccompanied children

The DHS chief says the border is closed, he will not give a deadline for facilities capable of handling the increase in unaccompanied children

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“We established three new facilities last week. … We are working on the system from start to finish. We are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Dana Bash in “State of the Union” when pressed in the administration schedule to have new processing facilities up and running. “We have dealt with outbreaks in the past and the men and women in the Department of Homeland Security will be successful.”

Mayorkas’ comments, which insisted that the southern border is currently closed to migrants, although the government is making an exception for unaccompanied minors, come as the situation worsens amid an increase in the number of unaccompanied children in US custody. . The Biden government has resisted calling the situation a crisis, even as Democratic and Republican lawmakers do so as they pressure officials to rectify the growing problem.

Bash pressured Mayorkas to provide a timeline, asking, “Can you be more specific?” and “Can you give me a date that you hope will be working for these kids to have better facilities?”

The secretary, again refusing to provide a date, told Bash “as soon as possible”, adding that the coronavirus pandemic partially complicated his efforts.

Mayorkas defended the government’s work on the southern border and blamed the Trump administration for dismantling the immigration system, saying his department now needs to rebuild it “from scratch”.

As of Saturday, there were more than 5,000 unaccompanied children in custody of CBP, according to documents obtained by CNN, against 4,500 children days earlier. Mayorkas told Bash on Sunday that the administration is expelling families and single adults, but that they are “focused … on the needs of children.”

“I have said several times since the beginning that a Border Patrol station is not a place for a child and that is why we are working non-stop to get these children out of the Border Patrol facilities, for the care and custody of the Department of Health. and Human Services that welcomes them “, he said.

More than 5,000 unaccompanied children are in custody of CBP, documents show

As of Saturday, more than 600 children have been in custody for more than 10 days, the documents show. Federal law requires unaccompanied children to be delivered within 72 hours to HHS, which oversees a network of shelters designed to house minors, but amid restrictions related to the pandemic, children remain in custody for more than the 72-hour limit. .

On average, children are in custody of the Border Patrol in prison-like facilities for an average of more than five days.

CNN previously reported that children are alternating schedules to make room for each other in confined facilities, some children have not seen sunlight for days and others take turns bathing, often spending days without showering, according to managers case, lawyers and border patrol agents. Bunk beds were brought to one of the processing facilities to help accommodate the flow of children, with an agent saying that children also sleep on plastic beds and mats on the floor and benches.

The escalation of the issue was not anticipated by the government, officials told CNN, saying they expected the number of migrants arriving at the U.S. border to increase as soon as they took office – given their drastically different approach to immigration compared to the former. President Donald Trump – but that they did not foresee such a big increase.

Mayorkas warned that the increase is likely to peak in two decades.

This story was updated with additional details on Sunday.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Jason Hoffman and Nikki Carvajal contributed to this report.

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