PRESIDENT Joe Biden is opening ANOTHER camp in Texas to house migrants who have crossed into the United States to request asylum, according to reports. It comes as the government is expecting up to 500 migrants to cross the border this week alone. The planning of the new facility, which is tipped to be built […]
PRESIDENT Joe Biden is opening ANOTHER camp in Texas to house migrants who have crossed into the United States to request asylum, according to reports.
It comes as the government is expecting up to 500 migrants to cross the border this week alone.
The planning of the new facility, which is tipped to be built near Del Rio, Texas, was revealed by The Washington Post, who spoke to three Department of Homeland Security officials.
Customs and Border Protection told DailyMail.com: “CBP is currently constructing a soft sided facility in Eagle Pass, TX to help accommodate migrants in our custody.
“There have always been fluctuations in the number of individuals we encounter at the border, and we continue to adapt accordingly.
“Since April 2020, CBP has seen an increase in border encounters from the Western Hemisphere due to worsening economic conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters impacting the area.
“Based on past experience, evaluation of operational requirements, and challenges due to COVID-19 space restrictions, we need additional processing facilities when we see rising numbers of encounters.
“As we work to build and improve permanent facilities for the safe and orderly processing of individuals at the border, temporary soft-sided facilities are sometimes necessary to meet operational needs that may arise due to rising encounters, particularly under challenging circumstances.”
The newly planned facility in the town of Eagle Pass is thought to be similar to the one in Carrizo Springs, an emergency shelter which was reopened on Monday for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.
In January, the number of unaccompanied children coming over the border was higher than 5,700, a high watermark in recent years.
AOC’s voice joined a chorus of immigration lawyers and advocates who are questioning why the government would reopen controversial camps, which have been criticized for their conditions in the past.
During the 2020 elections campaign, Joe Biden had promised measures to end child migrant detention facilities.
Mark Weber, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs these facilities, told The Post that putting children in permanent facilities is preferred, but because of the pandemic some will have to stay in like influx shelters, like Carrizo and Homestead.
He expects that Carrizo will close once the pandemic ends.
He also explained that the facilities’ reputations were tarnished during the Trump years because people associated them with the cramped detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Weber also argued that children in HHS’ care were treated well in both the Trump and Biden administrations.
However, he also explained that the Biden administration is moving away from the ‘law-enforcement focused’ approach of Trump, and will make child welfare central.
On Monday, a White House spokesperson had told Fox News that President Biden’s approach is to deal with immigration comprehensively, fairly and humanely and their policy is not to expel unaccompanied children who arrive at our borders.
The spokesperson had said that unaccompanied children will continue to be transferred to the office of refugee resettlement so that proper care can be taken of them.
The move came after President Joe Biden signed a raft of executive orders aimed at unwinding the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, including establishing a task force to reunify children separated from their parents or guardians at the border under former President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy.
A White House official said the flow of unaccompanied minors presenting themselves at the border preceded the Biden administration but said the pandemic has posed a challenge in the maximum number of children a facility can hold.
“The pandemic requires us to rethink capacity and to be extra cautious about Covid-19 protocol and social distancing, not just in the context of unaccompanied minors but also what processes and staff presence is going to look at a potential facility,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.”
