As we discussed here yesterday, the Biden administration is attracting more illegal migrants than it knows what to do with.
Illegal migrants (aka “asylum seekers”) coming across the border into the U.S. are typically arrested, held for a period of time while being processed, and then released . . . to somewhere. Now that the Remain in Mexico policy has been rescinded, that means most are eventually released into the overall American population.
But first, there’s the processing.
During processing, adult migrants are usually held in basic, warehouse-like shelters or even tents operated close to the border by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Unaccompanied migrants under the age of 18 (UACs), however, are by law not permitted to remain in such shelters beyond 72 hours. They instead must be moved to a more appropriate facility, usually one operated away from the border by the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) department, before being placed with a sponsor already in the U.S.
Therein lies the problem. Due to the new administration’s “over-achievement” in migrant importation, those HHS shelters are full. With at least 400 UACs coming into the system every day, HHS is scrambling to open more shelters.
One such shelter, originally a camp for oilfield workers in Midland, Texas, was opened Sunday when teenage migrants began arriving. It will be staffed by American Red Cross volunteers.
On a larger scale, the government is also looking at using the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center located in downtown Dallas. Beginning as early as this week, federal agencies plan to begin moving to that facility up to 3,000 migrant boys ages 15 to 17.
Some of those UACs may come from an overloaded DHS tent shelter 500 miles away in Donna, Texas, which currently is housing more than 1,000, often in close quarters without social distancing, beds, or sufficient hygiene, and for as long as a week or longer, well past the legal three-day limit.
The Democrats made much of the “kids in cages” myth during the Trump years. They made even more of President Trump’s attempts to relieve the problem by returning the UACs to Mexico. Now, thanks to Joe Biden’s irresponsible rhetoric during the campaign and later, the crisis is coming back, bigger than ever.
You reap what you sow, Joe.
For more, see Fox News.