After weeks of speculations, the Biden Administration has finally granted access to a Border Patrol Facility in Texas which is a make-shift home to thousands of children, who crossed the U.S-Mexico border without families.
The Department of Homeland Security allowed a reporter along with a camera crew to visit the Donna Holding Facility with members of Congress. Rep. Henry Cuellar and Senator Ted Cruz had previously released raw pictures of the facility, arguing about the run-down condition in which the minor migrants were held in.
The reporter claimed that he saw hundreds of children staying in “pods” made up of plastic; each with a capacity of 32 and the younger ones was kept in playpen-like areas. The population was astonishing considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Currently, almost 4100 children and families are living in Donna, out of which 3400 are minors.
A sudden surge has been seen in the number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border since Biden took oath as the President of the United States of America. Most of the migrants are unaccompanied minors. According to the data provided by CBP, almost 9400 children crossed the border in February and it is expected that the number of children will increase by more than 50% in March.
CBP has reported that almost 500 children crossed the border on average in March.
This sudden influx in the number of migrants has distressed the government-run facility centers. The government has already stretched its resources, resulting in developing make-shift facility centers to hold the migrants.
According to the law, the government is liable to shift the unaccompanied minors from Border Patrol to HHS-run shelters within the first 72 hours.
The HHS is responsible to look for parents or other foster homes in catering to these children while they await their immigration court trials.
Because of the surge in the number of migrants, some children have stayed in this facility for more than 72 hours because HHS lacks space and resources to cater to them all.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandra Mayorkas released an official statement, claiming that they were working and coordinating with HHS to move the unaccompanied minor migrants out of the crowded Border Patrol Stations to lessen up the burden.
