On Wednesday, a delegation of the US Congress members and White House officials traveled to the US Southern border. The visit includes a tour of the facility being used to house migrant children as increasing numbers of unaccompanied young people cross into the United States. The delegation will visit a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas. The recent move came after the Biden administration experienced an increasing critical humanitarian and political situation at the US-Mexico border. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden also met with key Cabinet members and immigration officials after facing pressure to address the situation. At least 750 teenagers are being held at Carrizo Springs. The facility includes a small group of children who have tested positive for COVID-19 potentially having contracted the virus in Border Patrol custody.
They are all placed in isolation like other facilities operated by the Health and Human Services Department. In recent weeks, the Biden administration has rushed to open more sites for children operated by the Department. The HHS announced on Tuesday that it would open a second site in Carrizo Springs. The convention center in San Diego will also open to teenagers. The Department is exploring housing teenagers at military bases in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas. The convention center in downtown Dallas has a 2,300-bed capacity and it is at nearly 2,000 teenagers, just a week after opening. Experts suggest the HHS must release children more quickly because around 40% of children in custody have a parent in the US and they are ready to take them.
Point to be noted that a Democratic legislator released photos earlier this week showing conditions at the facility and displaying the extreme challenges that border agents are experiencing in watching so many children. The White House officials said President Biden inherited an untenable situation that resulted from President Donald Trump’s undermining and weakening of the immigration system. It is noteworthy that the Carrizo Springs site first opened to migrant teenagers briefly in 2019 during the last sharp rise in border crossings and the Biden administration re-opened it in February 2021. The HHS officials are trying to build up a capacity to care for some 14,000 migrants now in federal custody. The country has experienced a dramatic spike in the number of people encountered by border officials since President Biden’s inauguration.
