A Republican senator from a southern border state has urged the Department of Homeland Security to start accepting private donations, hoping the money will improve holding conditions and give Customs and Border Protection facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border additional needed help.
Senator Ted Cruz sent acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan a letter Tuesday urging him to create a process for the federal entity to accept money and supplies from faith-based groups, non-governmental organizations, and charities.
“Even with the additional supplemental emergency funding, I am confident that DHS and CBP can still use the generosity of the American people to help manage the humanitarian crisis on our border,” Cruz wrote in the letter.
Cruz said he made the request because he had heard of individuals who wanted to help improve conditions inside the overcrowded facilities at ports of entry, but Border Patrol stations lacked a way to do so.
“This desire is laudable,” Cruz wrote. “But I understand that many of these organizations are currently having difficulties making donations because DHS and CBP currently lack procedures to accept their donations.”
The second-term senator did not make a recommendation for how DHS should go about making the operational change.
McAleenan is meeting with government officials in Honduras and El Salvador the first half of this week to discuss root causes and solutions to “irregular migration” from the northern region of Central America. DHS has not indicated if it will consider Cruz’s request.
More than 600,000 people have been taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection personnel at and between ports of entry in the first eight months of fiscal 2019, which is more than the previous 12 months. More than half of that group are families.
CBP has said its facilities were designed for single adults to be held for up to 72 hours before being transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.
Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement is responsible for taking unaccompanied children from CBP but has not had the space to do so, leading to overcrowded facilities with inefficient care for those temporarily living there.
