WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – The Biden government is turning to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help in managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who flock to the United States by crossing the border with Mexico illegally.
FEMA will support a government-wide effort over the next three months to safely receive, shelter and relocate minors arriving alone at the southwestern U.S. border without a parent or other adult, the Home Secretary said. safety, Alejandro Mayorkas, said Saturday.
Government figures show a growing crisis at the border as hundreds of children enter Mexico illegally from Mexico daily and are arrested.
The Department of Homeland Security is supposed to process and transfer minor minors to the Department of Health and Human Services within three days so that they can be placed with a parent already living in the United States, or another suitable bail, until their immigration cases can be resolved.
But more children are being held longer at Border Patrol facilities that were not designed for that purpose, because long-term shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services have almost no capacity to accommodate them. Children are apprehended daily at much higher rates than HHS can release it to parents or sponsors.
Mayorkas said FEMA is working with the Department of Health and Human Services to “explore every possible option to rapidly expand the physical capacity for appropriate accommodation.”
“Our goal is to ensure that unaccompanied children are transferred to HHS as soon as possible, in accordance with the legal requirements and in the best interests of the children,” Mayorkas said.
During a record stream of juvenile delinquents in 2014, the Obama administration also turned to FEMA for help coordinating the government-wide response. During the crisis, FEMA helped set up temporary shelters and processing stations on military bases.
President Joe Biden ended the Trump era by evicting children of immigrants who cross the border alone, but they maintained evictions of immigrant families and single adults.
While his government has tried to deter immigrants from entering the US, many believe they have a better chance now that Biden is president.
There are also increasing reports of parents sending their children alone across the border while living in Mexico or Central America.
___
Associated Press author Nomaan Merchant in Houston contributed to this report.