US faces border crisis over migrant influx

US officials are scrambling to manage a humanitarian crisis due to an influx in migrants, as the country faces a transition in migration policy following the Trump administration, and altered laws due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

While US authorities are turning back families and adults arriving at the border, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said unaccompanied minors were still allowed to enter.

'Now is not the time to come'

The secretary also garnered criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers by saying that "the border is closed." 

"Now is not the time to come. Do not come. The journey is dangerous," he told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "We are building safe, orderly and humane ways to address the needs of vulnerable children."

Border officials are struggling to house and process an increasing number of unaccompanied children, many of whom have been stuck in jail-like border stations for days while they await placement in government-run shelters.

Around 15,000 migrant children or teenagers are already in federal custody, and the US is expected to see two million undocumented migrants arrive this year — adding to the pressure over how to handle the current set of policies. 

Mayorkas blamed the backlog on former President Donald Trump for having "dismantled the orderly, humane and efficient way" of taking in migrant children.

Biden said early on that he wanted to remove some of the harsher policies imposed by his predecessor but that first he needed to impose "guardrails" to prevent a huge influx of migrants.

Marking a departure from the previous administration, Biden began allowing unaccompanied children into the country. More than 10,000 are now in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, while the Customs and Border Protection agency is caring for 5,000 others. Roughly a third of the children are currently housed in facilities meant for adults. 

When did the influx begin?

The most recent influx began to grow prior to Biden taking office in January, partly due to deteriorating conditions in parts of Central America. In January, Mexico also stopped taking back some families that were being expelled by US authorities. 

"The entire system... was dismantled in its entirety by the prior administration," said Mayorkas. 

"We are rebuilding those orderly and safe processes as quickly as possible," he said. "But in the meantime, we will not expel into the Mexican desert, for example, three orphan children whom I saw over the last two weeks. We just won't do that. That's not who we are."

How are officials handling the wave?

The homeland security secretary said three new facilities had been opened to handle border arrivals just last week.

"We have a plan. We are executing on our plan and we will succeed. But one thing is also clear, that it takes time," Mayorkas said.

In response to the latest surge, Biden said he would visit the border "at some point" and said that "a lot more" could be done to discourage migrants from traveling to the border.

"We're in the process of doing it now, including making sure that we reestablish what existed before, which was — they can stay in place and make their case from their home country," he told reporters on Sunday.  

The US has also ramped up "more aggressive" messaging in both English and Spanish, to persuade migrants not to attempt the journey to the US.  In response, Trump issued a statement claiming that his border policies had been a success, and blamed Biden for the crisis. 

"All they had to do was keep this smooth-running system on autopilot," he said. "Instead, in the span of just a few weeks, the Biden Administration has turned a national triumph into a national disaster."

lc/dj (Reuters, AFP)