Despite Biden's promises of humanitarian solutions

Thousands of immigrant children are still detained in the United States

• Most of the children who come have relatives in the United States.

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• The number of minor immigrants is expected to increase in the coming months.

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Thousands of immigrant children, without the company of their families, have headed to the South American border in recent weeks, which represents a new challenge to the administration of President Joe Biden, which is striving for a humane approach to illegal immigration, and most of the children, who arrive from Central America, are placed. Hundreds a day, in a coronavirus quarantine, for 10 days, then they are transferred to shelters across the country, which has sparked criticism that Biden has returned to one of the most controversial practices in the era of former President Donald Trump's administration, which is prolonged detention. For immigrant children.

Over the past week, border guards have intercepted more than 2,000 children who traveled unaccompanied by adults, most of them in their teens, but some as young as six.

There is widespread concern that their numbers in the coming months may break the record set in May 2019, when border patrols detected 11,000 underage immigrants.

"We are monitoring minors at the border in large numbers, South Texas," said a Homeland Security official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The arrival of children unaccompanied in large numbers exacerbates the already difficult situation, as immigrant families arrived at the border. In greater numbers in recent months, many immigrants have been returned by the US authorities, under the Public Health Emergency Act, which the former president applied at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but the Biden administration decided not to refuse entry to minors, and they are now crowded in facilities at the border.

Human rights bodies have criticized the decision to detain the children, a policy they say is due to the Trump administration building tents along the border to contain the influx of migrant children.

Last week, the Biden administration reopened a makeshift shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, to house about 700 immigrant teenagers, and the shelter, which faced a barrage of criticism, was closed in July 2019.

new way

"It seems that this administration cannot find a new way to deal with the situation," said Joshua Rubin, an activist with "Watch at the Borders", who was preparing to organize protests outside a center for migrant children that will reopen soon. Children are shocked. ”

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, who has long been critical of the Trump administration's immigration policies, said: “This is not good, and these children have never been so good, and they will never be okay, regardless of administration or party. ».

Critics of the administration's policies say most children arrive with the address and phone number of a relative in the United States, and they should be allowed to join their families immediately, and they say quarantine is not necessary for children who have tested positive for the virus at the border.

The pressure on the borders diminished after the Trump administration instituted a set of policies that effectively prevented immigrants from entering the United States to seek asylum, and within days of taking office, Biden quickly signed a series of executive orders to reverse many of those measures, but the pressure appears to be mounting before That his administration have time to make the preparations it says are necessary to manage a large number of new arrivals, including increasing border facilities, adding staff, and coordinating with Mexico, and there are perceptions among immigrants that they will receive a more friendly welcome from the Biden government.

"The truth is that we had to reverse Trump's brutal policies, and Biden tried to do so in a responsible and sequential manner," said the former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, Seth Studer, adding, "But some dynamics are not under his control."

The epidemic has exacerbated the challenge, and the Refugee Resettlement Office of the Ministry of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for overseeing the care of migrant children who arrive alone, manages a shelter network of 13,000 beds across the country, and to comply with the 'Covid-19' protocols, The agency reduced facility occupancy to 60%.

Faced with the housing crisis, the agency this week opened a temporary emergency shelter in Carrizo Springs, and is preparing to reopen a larger facility in Homestead, Florida.

Searches are ongoing across federal properties for places where additional shelters can be established, and these shelters have been criticized for housing hundreds of children in makeshift structures, such as tents that do not contain the amenities provided by the long-term, federally licensed shelters.

Inhumane Environments

"If they don't make major adjustments, they open up a place like the center in Homestead, which has dangerous conditions for children," said lawyer Hope Frye. However, a health and human services official said that the agency had not made an official decision yet, and the official explained: "We will not take it." Any short cuts, and we will not put children in dangerous situations. ”

Under the law, the government cannot keep migrant children in detention facilities at the border for more than 72 hours, and they must either be transferred to a shelter or released, and the internal security official said that, in recent weeks, many children have been stranded in border centers for long periods.

During the wave of immigrants from Central America in 2019, the Trump administration came under attack, after child welfare inspectors found that overcrowding had turned temporary shelters into inhumane environments, where children suffered neglect. Transfer children quickly to state-licensed shelters, as required by law, and not hold them for weeks in border guard facilities that are unsuitable and fundamentally unsafe for children.

Resettlement

Once the children are in the shelters, the Refugee Resettlement Office arranges to send them to families, following the instructions to ensure that they will be well taken care of in their new homes, but operations have been delayed, in recent weeks, due to the requirement that young immigrants remain in quarantine for 10 days, And the negative test twice for Corona virus.

During a press briefing, White House press secretary Jane Psaki acknowledged that the administration faced a "difficult choice."

Family members who act as sponsors have long been required to pay transportation costs, although this requirement was temporarily waived by the Obama administration in 2016. Paying for travel may, in the end, be cheaper than holding children, as the costs are in a temporary emergency shelter. Like Carrizo, it amounts to $ 700 per child per day, due to the need to install the necessary infrastructure.

The United States began to witness a significant increase in the number of minor immigrants who arrived from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in 2011, as many of them face threats of violence by gangs.

These problems still plague the region.

Hurricanes recently struck Guatemala and Honduras, and climate change has made the Earth less productive, prompting people to travel to the United States, on an adventure for a better life.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are working to help provide shelter and supplies for stranded families.

• 700 dollars, the cost of caring for one child, per day, in an emergency shelter.

• 2000 children who traveled without the company of adults, during the past week, were intercepted by border guards.

• 11,000 underage migrants were spotted at the border, in May 2019.

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