Biden Administration Partners with Endeavors to Provide Shelter for Immigrant Families
The Biden Administration collaborated with Texas-based non-profit organization, Endeavors, to secure shelter for families in the borders. Because of the collaboration, the Biden administration has awarded a contract costing $86.9 million to ICE, which will be spent on the hotel rooms near the border.
Fox Business noted that the hotel rooms will house families who have not been expelled from the United States but are placed for immigration proceedings. The movement follows the influx of illegal families crossing American borders.
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Biden Administration and Endeavors collaboration
The data from Customs and Border Protection showed an uptick in migrant family members that are caught crossing the southwest borders, according to a Pulptastic report. 7,000 migrant families were recorded in January, and this almost tripled to 19,000 in February. On the other hand, unaccompanied children and single minors increased to 9,297 in February from its record of 5,649 in January.
In response to this issue, the contract through Endeavors will provide not only beds for the families to sleep in but also "other necessary services" that will be needed by the migrant families. 1,239 beds will be secured by the contracts for the migrant families, along with comprehensive health assessments like COVID-19 testing.
Axios noted that migrant families and unaccompanied migrant children are exhausting the government resources. Because of the influx of migrants trying to seek asylum, utilizing the federal government devised hotel rooms for migrants. Immigration agencies have utilized hotel rooms in the past, and hotel rooms are a safer option than border patrol stations.
Jon Allman, Endeavors President, and CEO noted that "critical services to migrant families" will be provided by their contract with DHS. Allman added that the services they will be providing are a continuation of previous services they have delivered to the migrants since 2012.
Endeavors
Endeavors offers four major services. One of them is the migrant services, which is timely in the border crisis happening in the borders of Mexico and the United States. Apart from the beds and the health services the organization will provide the migrant families, Endeavors will also offer victim services, therapeutic regimens, educational resources, and even mental health care.
The organization also offers trauma-informed, child-centered, and culturally appropriate case management. The organization will also give home study and post-release services for unaccompanied children and their sponsors.
42 percent of the families were already expelled to Mexico last month. The figure of expulsion among migrant families is significantly lower than the 64 percent in January and 91 percent in October. Unaccompanied children are not included in the expulsion.
The border officials under the Biden administration still utilize the Trump-era method to quickly return many families to Mexico. However, Mexico has only limited capacity in accepting migrant families. Even with the help from Endeavors, the Biden administration has been pressuring the Mexican Government in increasing their immigration enforcement. That way, the surge of Central Americans seeking asylum in the U.S.-Mexico border might be slowed down.
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WATCH: Biden steps up family expulsions amid border surge - from Reuters