There is a lot of misinformation about what is happening at the border. Here are the facts.

US Customs and Border Protection attributed the increase in prisons in part to instability in countries of origin, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and perceptions of instant changes in US immigration policies.

The pandemic has had a dramatic impact in Latin America, where Covid-19 cases and deaths have skyrocketed and economies that were once projected to grow have been decimated. The region has also been hit by two devastating hurricanes. The decline in economic growth in 2020, according to the Congressional Research Service, is expected to worsen income inequality and poverty in the region.

Government officials have asked migrants not to come to the US, arguing that changes to the US immigration system will take time to make. “They need to wait. It takes time to rebuild the system from scratch,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday.

Who is crossing the border?

Most of those who have crossed the border since October are single adults, many of whom are from Mexico. In January, the US Border Patrol arrested more than 75,000 migrants on the southern border, compared with about 71,000 in December, according to the latest data. Of these, single adults made about 62,000 arrests.

But the month-to-month increase is noticeable, as there is usually a drop between December and January due to holidays. It is particularly worrying among unaccompanied families and children.

On average, in the past 21 days, the U.S. Border Patrol has arrested approximately 340 children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone, according to internal documents analyzed by CNN.

Border patrol officers are the first to contact children crossing the United States’ border alone. After being taken into custody by the Border Patrol, unaccompanied children are handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services.

There are approximately 7,700 unaccompanied children in the care of HHS. The department has about 13,650 beds to accommodate children when they are not reduced in capacity.

In 2019, the Trump administration faced a large number of children and families on the U.S.-Mexico border that overloaded facilities. While it is difficult to compare today’s prisons with those of the past few years because of drastically different circumstances as a result of the pandemic, the growing trend for children has raised concerns.

In January 2019, the year in which there were peaks at the border, the Border Patrol found about 5,100 unaccompanied children. Last January, the Border Patrol arrested some 5,700 children who crossed the border on their own.

“The numbers are very high. They are not the highest ever, but they are particularly high for this time of year,” said Mark Greenberg, a senior member of the Migration Policy Institute and a former Health and Human Services official. “There is some seasonal variation and the numbers are generally higher in the spring than in the winter, so seeing such high numbers in February is very unusual.”

What is Biden doing differently than Trump in relation to children?

The number of children in U.S. custody may appear to be higher when compared to last year, because the Trump administration has subjected children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone to a policy that has allowed the rapid removal of migrants.

The Biden government has said it will not do so, which means that unaccompanied minors will be taken into the custody of the United States, rather than sent away.

How is the Biden government treating other migrants?

Other migrants, like most families and single adults, are still subject to instant removal, with a few exceptions.

In a remnant of the Trump era, individuals found illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border can be quickly expelled from the United States, with little consequence, due to a public health order implemented last March. This led to single adults trying to cross several times.

What does US law say about children in custody?

After being taken into custody by the Border Patrol, unaccompanied children must be returned within 72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for caring for migrant children, except in exceptional circumstances.

Once in care, case managers will work to place children with a sponsor, such as a parent or relative, in the United States, but as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the department is only able use a little more than half of the beds you have for children.

CNN reported this week that the average time at the Border Patrol facilities, which are not designed to contain children, was 77 hours, more than the 72 allowed by United States law.

Where are the children kept?

HHS has an extensive network of shelters across the country, equipped to care for children until they can be placed with the family in the United States. These shelters are separate from the Border Patrol facilities, which are not intended to house children and have been used in previous administrations.

The shelters have been operating at reduced capacity to meet Covid-19 precautions. But on Friday, the Biden administration notified facilities that care for migrant children that they can return to pre-Covid-19 levels, recognizing “extraordinary circumstances” due to the increase in the number of minors crossing the US-Mexico border, according to with a memo obtained by CNN.

HHS also recently opened an overflow facility in Texas to house children arriving on the southern border of the U.S. without a parent or relative.

“We need to look for facilities and places where we can have these unaccompanied minors safely and humanely in the meantime,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.

What other facilities are being considered?

HHS also conducted a local survey in Fort Lee, Virginia, to determine whether the facilities could “be suitable for temporary housing for unaccompanied children” crossing the border, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday. .

Kirby said that a formal request from HHS has not yet been sent to the Department of Defense. He also said the Department has hosted unaccompanied children in the past, citing a time when HHS asked for similar assistance in 2012 and 2017.

If the request is granted, the children will be taken care of by the HHS, and the Pentagon will simply provide the space for housing, added Kirby.

“The children would be housed on the premises, usually on a housing basis, not for families, but for barracks, and are under the responsibility and care of HHS. The Department’s role would be to provide the space in a fully refundable format, “said Kirby.

Ellie Kaufman of CNN contributed to this report.

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