Nine senators sent a letter to the Biden government on Saturday condemning the handling of the influx of migrants to the US-Mexico border and calling for greater clarity.
Senate Justice Committee, rank member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, led the letter signed by Republican Committee members Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn .; Thom Tillis, RN.C .; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Josh Hawley, R-Mo .; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Tom Cotton, R-Ark .; and John Kennedy, R-La.
“Regardless of what the Biden administration wants to call these current circumstances that have created it, this boom in illegal immigration poses significant risks,” the senators told Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. , Xavier Becerra, written. “It also places a heavy burden on public resources.”
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) walks to a Republican caucus lunch. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger / Getty Images)
The senators added that “Congress and the American people should have additional clarity on how DHS and HHS handle the situation at the border”.
There were 30,077 border movements in February 2020. In February this year, Customs and Border Patrol encountered 100,441 migrants at the southern border – an increase of 28% compared to January 2021 – and carried out 72,113 evictions.
DEM REP SS IT IS NOT ‘SUITABLE’ FOR REPORTERS WITHIN BORDER FACILITIES FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN
About 9,500 minor children are in HHS custody, while about 4,500 are being processed at CBP facilities, The Associated Press reported Thursday.
CBP cannot expel children under U.S. law, so they are being held temporarily in facilities like those in northeastern El Paso, with a capacity of 1,040 migrants. The El Paso plant and others on the southern border extend to the extreme, creating pressure conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the Biden government works to find more space and resources for those coming to the border.
Travelers, left, wait in line to cross a customs territory to the United States at the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, while a group of migrants, on the right, are deported to Reynosa, Mexico. (AP Photo / Julio Cortez)
“Capture-and-release policies pose additional risks to public health amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” the senators wrote. “The Biden administration has expressed an alleged commitment to ending the pandemic; however, news reports indicate that they now plan to detain some detained by DHS staff just 72 hours before they are released in the U.S. communities. word. “
On Friday, Mayorkas visited a CBP facility in El Paso, where, according to DHS, he received an information session on the processing, shelter, and transfer of unaccompanied children, as well as a dual group of senators. He did not speak to the press.
FIRST PHOTO INSIDE EL PASO MIGRANT CENTER OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS, AS SOUTHERN BORDER SITUATION MEANS
Republicans have argued that Biden’s immediate repayment of the Trump-era policy has created the current influx of migrants to the border, although the number of encounters at the border has increased since April 2020, according to CBP.
Trump critics argue that the former president’s “Stay in Mexico” policy endangers migrants seeking U.S. citizenship for trade and violence in that country.
In this photo taken by a drone, migrants are arrested in a US customs and border protection processing area under the Anzalduas International Bridge, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Mission, Texas. . (AP Photo / Julio Cortez)
The nine senators are asking for more information from DHS and HHS, including a breakdown of the number of migrants detained since January 20, the number of migrants tested and vaccinated for COVID-19, estimating how much time individuals spend in CBP custody before and after the test, and future projections on the fear of the border.
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More than 40 House Republicans also sent a letter to Beccera on Friday in which they were ‘extremely concerned’ about the number of underage minors arriving at the border.
A number of GOP legislators have traveled or planned to travel to the southern border to get the situation out first hand. Blackburn travels to Arizona on Sunday to “get facts and see the crisis firsthand,” she said in a statement.