By Sara Rančigaj (Nova24tv)
The increase in the number of unaccompanied children at the Mexican border in the US continues, with more than 4,200 children in improvised facilities. Democrats, who accused Donald Trump of imprisoning children, have blamed the former president for the renewed migrant crisis that has occurred now. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden just shook his head when asked how he would solve the problem at the southern border.
More than 4,200 minors were held indoors near the southern US border on Sunday morning. Nearly 3,000 of these children were detained beyond the legal 72-hour limit, after which they must be handed over by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) for more permanent accommodation, RT reported.
The number of children in custody increased by 31 percent in just one week, while last week there was a record number of children – as many as 3,200. The children told lawyers that they were hungry and sometimes had to wait a week for a shower. On Saturday, Biden’s administration ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to head to the border to help process new arrivals, and Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas said that “the border patrol is not a place for a child”. According to him, FEMA will help to “safely receive, shelter, and relocate them” to more suitable accommodation.
When the children of migrants were on the CBP premises during Donald Trump’s term, Joe Biden and his Democrats angrily condemned the former president and his strict immigration policy. Biden called Trump “inhuman” during the campaign, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cried for the children in front of reporters for good promotion. However, Biden appears to have turned the plate when entering the White House, while his press secretary Jen Psaki denied in front of reporters the claims that they have a crisis on the border and that the children are locked in cages.
Democrats blame Trump for the situation
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also put blame of the deteriorating situation at the border on Trump. “What Biden’s administration has inherited is a broken system at the border and they are working to fix it in the best interest of the children,” Pelosi said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas also blamed Trump for the rise in illegal immigration: “In short, the previous administration completely shattered our nation’s immigration system.” Mayorkas, on Saturday, in addition to personally blaming Trump, said that “constant violence, natural disasters, food insecurity, and poverty in Central American countries” have directed the flood of migrants against the US.
Upon arrival, these children face a reception no different from that offered under Trump, except for the fact that Biden did not at all try to dissuade them from illegally entering the United States. Meanwhile, his Democratic colleagues are continuing a public relations campaign to label the catastrophic situation in prisons as somewhat different from the last four years. “I trust that the Biden administration’s policy will be based on humanitarianism and love for children, not on political points,” Pelosi said at a news conference.
Former President Donald Trump also responded to the situation on the southern border, believing that the nation was being “destroyed on the southern border”, while the southern border was in “excellent shape” during his term. “When I was president, our southern border was in great shape – stronger, safer, and more secure than ever,” Trump said.