President Biden is being forced to address uncomfortable questions about immigration policy amid a surge of unaccompanied minors at the Mexican border that is beginning to overshadow his first 100 days agenda and imperiling thin Democratic majorities in Congress.

Democrats are pressuring Biden to improve conditions for young asylum-seekers entering the United States illegally and housed in federal facilities. They are concerned the new president is tolerating the same inhumane treatment of minors who cross the southern border without their parents that until recently they blamed on former President Donald Trump. Biden campaigned on reversing Trump’s hawkish immigration policies, and liberals counting on him to deliver say their patience is not infinite.