The Biden administration will soon open an emergency facility in the northern border state of Michigan to hold children who come over the southern border without parents, a move that will require flying young children across the country.
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement will stand up an emergency intake center in Albion, Michigan, to house up to 240 children who are age 12 and under.
“While HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has worked to build up its licensed bed capacity, additional capacity is urgently needed to manage the increasing numbers of [unaccompanied child] referrals from [Customs and Border Protection],” HHS said in a statement issued Friday evening.
BORDER PATROL HAS RELEASED 30,000 DIRECTLY INTO THE US SINCE JANUARY
“I am appalled,” said Rep. Lisa McClain, a Michigan Republican. “President Biden’s open-border policies are encouraging parents to send their kids into our country alone. It is irresponsible and past time the president gets the situation at the border under control.”
The Biden administration has already opened 11 overflow facilities across the southern border as it struggles to hold the more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children in its custody as of Monday, an indication of the severity of the border crisis.
Children are held by HHS for approximately one month, the average length of time it takes the government to find a family member or friend to release the child to.
Children who cross the border alone are initially taken into custody by Border Patrol agents and not to be held at law enforcement stations more than three days while they are processed. However, due to the thousands of children coming across each week, Border Patrol facilities have become overcrowded.
In March, the Washington Post reported that CBP had requested the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement airplanes to transport people deeper into the country. The planes are normally used for deportations. CBP told the Washington Examiner at the time that it had not flown anyone to other facilities, but it did not deny having requested or considered doing so.
“Mr. President, it was reported your administration was not going to send illegal immigrants north, you have now flip-flopped,” McClain said. “Can you assure us with the Michigan numbers rising that these unaccompanied minors don’t have COVID and that they have already been processed?”
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The air transfer of people from the border to other federal facilities far away is not unprecedented. The Trump administration opted to fly people to ICE facilities across the country during the 2019 humanitarian crisis.
