Keys to understanding what happens at the border and the actions of the Biden Administration

The President’s Government Joe Biden is facing a surprising increase in arrivals of families and unaccompanied children at the border, but the authorities do not dare to describe the situation as a “crisis”, but rather as a kind of “emergency”.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking action on the matter, while the Republicans are taking the opportunity to criticize the Democrats, who do not expect to remain silent, such as the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (California), who accused the government of Donald Trump to set the stage for the situation that the border is experiencing.

“The facts are these: there are more children. About 600, 700 more children, unaccompanied children, cross the border. This is a humanitarian challenge for all of us,” Pelosi said on ABC News. “What the administration has inherited is a broken system at the border and they are working to correct that in the interest of children.”.

On Friday, in a call with journalists, the Biden Administration recognized the “emergency” and seeks to tackle it in different ways, including hasty care of minors, to send them to shelters of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Last week, authorities processed more than 3,500 children, according to their own statistics, the largest number of children served by DHS.

FEMA Help

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alexander Mayorkasordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support efforts at the border for 90 days, in order to safely house and transfer children.

“The federal government is responding to the arrival of a record number of people, including unaccompanied children, at the southwest border”Mayorkas said.

He attributed the increase, registered since April 2020, to violence in Central American countries, natural disasters, food insecurity and poverty in the Northern Triangle countries.

Mayorkas indicated that they seek to process the minors as soon as possible, so that they can be claimed by a sponsor or family member.

“I am grateful for the exceptional talent and responsiveness of the FEMA team,” he said. “I am incredibly proud of the Border Patrol agents, who have been working around the clock under difficult circumstances to care for the children temporarily in our care.”.

The Secretary assured that the safety and rights of minors are prioritized.

“The DHS workforce, including CBP, the Federal Protective Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and volunteers from across the Department through the DHS Volunteer Force, will help provide sheltering capacity, security and other types of support,” he said.

They ask “not to come now”

For several weeks now, the Biden Administration has indicated that “this is not the time” for immigrants to travel to the US, due to the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the insecurity on the way.

In conferences with reporters, White House immigration officials have insisted on sending that message.

the spokeswoman Only Psaki He has repeated the same thing in his press conferences. “Now is not the time to come,” she said, while warning of deportation processes for those who enter irregularly. Secretary Mayorkas is in the same tenor.

“It is never safe to come to the United States through irregular channels and this is particularly true during a pandemic”Mayorkas said. “To effectively protect both the health and safety of migrants and our communities from the spread of COVID-19, people apprehended at the border continue to be denied entry and returned.”

It is safe to help children

During the Trump Administration, an attempt was made to confront the immigration crisis by caging minors, in addition to sending them to shelters where few people could claim them, since your relatives or acquaintances in the US feared being detained by ICE.

Last Friday, the Biden Administration ended a collaboration agreement that allowed the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to give ICE access to record fingerprints, photographs and other information of immigrants seeking to sponsor a child.

“Hoy [termina] a 2018 agreement that undermined the interests of minors and had a terrifying effect on potential sponsors (usually a parent or significant other) interested in sponsoring a minor,” DHS confirmed.