The White House defended the reopening of a Texas facility to detain migrant teenagers that Democrats criticized the Trump administration over, contending it is a temporary measure brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Located along the southern border, the center can hold up to 700 children aged 13 to 17.
Asked why the administration had reopened the camp, press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday its policy was “not to expel unaccompanied children who arrived at the border” and cited health protocols necessitated by COVID-19.
Unaccompanied minors apprehended at the border are transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Resettlement, she said. HHS operates long-term facilities, but many of these are full.
“To ensure the health and safety of these kids, HHS took steps to open an emergency facility to add capacity, where these children can be provided the care they need before they’re safely placed with families and sponsors,” Psaki said. “So, it’s a temporary reopening during COVID-19, our intention is very much to close it, but we want to make sure we can follow COVID protocols.”
The Carrizo Springs facility was sharply criticized by Democrats during the Trump administration, when it was open for one month in the summer of 2019.
Earlier that year, Vice President Kamala Harris started her presidential campaign with an attack on Trump’s border policies.
“When we have children in cages crying out for their mothers, that’s not border security. It’s human rights abuse,” Harris said.
In 2018, she called Trump’s treatment of migrant families separated at the border a “crime against humanity.”
Biden pledged to end the use of private prisons on the campaign trail last year, but an order signed last month did not extend the policy to privately run facilities for detained migrants.
During an October debate last year, Biden slammed Trump repeatedly for separating families at the border, charging that children were “ripped” from their parent’s arms.
The White House pushed back Tuesday on parallels to the previous administration. Trump drew intense criticism after enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy that led to thousands of family separations at the border and children housed in warehouse-like facilities.
“This is not kids being kept in cages. This is a facility that was opened that’s going to follow the same standards as other HHS facilities,” Psaki said. “It is not a replication — certainly not, that is never our intention, of replicating the immigration policies of the past administration, but we are in a circumstance where we are not going to expel unaccompanied minors at the border.”
“That would be inhumane. That is not what we are going to do here as an administration,” she added.
WHITE HOUSE DEFERS ACTION FOR PRIVATE IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITIES
Biden rescinded the Trump-era policy that allowed adults to be prosecuted after they crossed the border illegally, including when they were accompanied by children.
The Texas facility isn’t the only center for detained migrant teenagers that is expected to reopen.
Biden officials expect to reopen a camp in Homestead, Florida, two Department of Homeland Security officials told the Miami Herald.
Democratic presidential primary candidates, including now-Vice President Kamala Harris, visited the Homestead Detention Center while in Miami for the Democratic primary debates. Harris said that she would close private detention facilities if elected.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren called its existence “a stain on our country,” and she later said that the company operating the facility on behalf of the government, Caliburn International, should be investigated.
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Asked about the Florida facility, Psaki replied that, as in Texas, this was a “temporary emergency center” and referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security.
“They obviously oversee those facilities, so they’re best prepared to answer any questions on it,” Psaki said.
A representative for Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
