A growing chorus of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle has called on the Biden Administration to allow reporters and journalists to house facilities that sought asylum at the border between the United States and Mexico without escorted migrant children.
The call for greater transparency with the American public and those who cover it comes as the US faces a growing humanitarian crisis on its southwestern border, driven by the economic devastation in Central America, climate change, gang violence and political persecution, as well as a new presidential administration.
Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas predicts the U.S. is on track to encounter more migrants on the southwestern border than in 20 years. Amid the continuing increase in intersections, President Biden said Sunday that he would go to the border “at some point.”
Senator Rob Portman, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and one of the four senators who accompanied Mayorkas to the border on Friday, told CBS News ‘Face the Nation’ that he would “absolutely” push for Custom and Open border. Facilities for Protection (CBP) to journalists amid calls for transparency.
“It has to be transparent,” Portman said. “It’s surprising to me how few voters know what’s going on along the border. It’s a situation that is getting out of control.”
Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Credit Subcommittee on Homeland Security, also participated in the trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Democratic legislature told NPR on Saturday that opening up access to media coverage “is something we should all push the government to do better.”
“We want to make sure the press has access to hold the administration accountable,” he said. “That’s why I was there to hold them accountable. And they’ve seen a boom that started last year, that started under the Trump administration, but it’s real. It’s putting pressure on their resources.”
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As of Saturday morning, more than 5,000 minor minors remained in a CBP tent facility in South Texas and other stations along the border with Mexico. According to government records, unaccompanied children spend an average of 136 hours in CBP supervision, well beyond the legal limit of 72 hours.
According to the department’s spokesperson, Mark Weber, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has housed nearly 10,500 unaccompanied children in emergency housing facilities and shelters licensed by states to care for minors.
Another lawmaker on the trip, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security sub-committee, told The Washington Post on Saturday that more than 200 border agents went to a customs and border protection processing center in El Paso redirected is care for children.
According to Capito, as many as 100 migrant children were detained in a large room in the facility amid the coronavirus pandemic, and many are being held in CBP custody outside the legal limit of 72 hours before being transferred to HHS custody . Capito expressed concern about the switch to CBP facilities, noting: ‘They will withdraw 50 per night [and] another 100 entered the night. ‘
The Republican senator also told The Washington Post that she had insisted to the DHS secretary that reporters should be allowed within the border facilities. “I pleaded with him to have so much transparency with us … but also with the press,” Capito said.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Mayorkaas mentioned privacy and health concerns by letting reporters into the facilities. “Let me be clear, we are in the midst of the pandemic. We are talking about an overcrowded border patrol station where we are focused on operations,” Mayorkas said.
‘At the same time, and let me assure you, we’re working on a plan to provide access so people can see what’s going on at border patrol stations, “the DHS secretary continued.” I want to encourage people to also see the Department of Health and Human Services where the children are sheltered and where they belong and where we want to draw them. “
The delegation’s journey to the border on Friday remains closed to the press, “due to privacy and COVID-19 precautions”, according to the DHS statement.
A Biden administration official on Thursday indicated that DHS had made an “operational decision” in March 2020 to discourage visitors due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and that the rule still exists.
Journalists have been allowed to inspect government facilities to inspect the conditions and talk to asylum seekers during the recent migration spikes, under the Trump administration in 2018 and Obama administration in 2014.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that Biden’s government did not have a timeline for when the public would be able to see the conditions inside border facilities, amid repeated interrogations in the White House briefing room.
“We remain committed to sharing your data with you on the number of children crossing the border, the steps we are taking, the work we are doing to open facilities, our own bar we are setting up, and the and speeding up the timeline and treating these children, ‘Psaki said, with further questions to the Department of Homeland Security. “And we remain committed to transparency. I do not have an update for you on the access timeline, but it is definitely something we support. “
In addition to media access, the Biden administration did not provide photos or videos documenting the interior of overcrowded government facilities housing migrant children amid the public emergency of COVID-19.
But the Biden government, including Home Security officials, has repeatedly promised to expand transparency and access to the department’s operations since the president’s inauguration. In its confirmation hearing before the Home Security and Government Affairs Committee on January 19, Mayorkas promised to raise the level of public engagement so that we are a transparent agency – not only transparent to the public we serve, but also for the media whose responsibility it is partly to hold us accountable. ‘
Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.