U.S. Near Max Capacity to Hold Migrant Children; Biden Admin Scrutinized Over Reopening Holding Facility
Children play as people who are seeking asylum in the United States are gathered outside the El Chaparral border crossing on February 19, 2021 in Tijuana, Mexico. Those seeking asylum have been waiting months and years in Tijuana and other locations to be allowed into the U.S. to petition for asylum. Starting today, a small group out of an estimated 25,000 asylum seekers with active cases will be allowed into the U.S., a Biden administration move reversing the Trump administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ immigration policy. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Biden administration is detaining more than 700 unaccompanied migrant children in custody at the U.S.-Mexico border. The move caused criticisms from various groups.

An internal Customs and Border Protection memo shows that most of the children remained in the custody of the Border Patrol after awaiting transfers to shelters being managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to The Federalist report.

In addition, at least 200 of the kids were held for at least two days, while the document showed that at least nine children were detained for longer than 72 hours, which is a direct violation of federal law.

Migrant Children Detained

Around 400 unaccompanied minors have already been referred to HHS shelters, which is a significant increase since the 2019 border crisis when the 30-day referral average was just under 300 children.

As the administration receives criticisms from various groups and people, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that some migrant children have been detained for a minimum of four days.

The press secretary then downplayed the longer-than-allowed holding periods, citing the snowstorm and cold weather experienced in Texas last week.

She added that transfers were delayed as some shelters did not have power and were not in a place where they had the capacity to take in the children.

"We have a couple of options: We can send them back home. ... We can quickly transfer them from CPB to these HHS-run facilities. ... We can put them with families and sponsors without any vetting," Psaki was quoted in a report.

An HHS official said that the capacity of these detention facilities is at 92 percent capacity. The agency added that the first teens arrived at Carrizo Springs, Texas, which was converted two years ago into a holding facility under former president Donald Trump, which has been closed since July 2019.

Some have accused President Biden of moving to detail children in "cages," according to an ABC 7 report.

HHS on Wednesday authorized operators of long-term facilities to pay for some of the children's flights and transportation to the homes of their sponsors.

Sponsors can be charged for the flights and required to pay before the government releases the children, according to HHS' current guidelines. In addition, these costs can sometimes exceed $1,000 per child.

Difference from Trump Administration's Policy

During his campaign, President Joe Biden promised to apply immigration reforms on certain policies, including detaining migrants in holding facilities.

The difference of what the Biden administration is doing from the Trump administration is that the previous admin pursued a "zero-tolerance" policy of prosecuting adults for the illegal entry that had the effect of more migrant children being separated from their families, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Cris Ramon, an immigration policy analyst, said that intention matters.

"Anybody who's saying that this is the same as Trump really aren't paying attention to the intentionality," Ramon was quoted in a report.

Meanwhile, Naureen Shah, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that they recognize the current administration's efforts to process migrant children, adding that it is critical that it does not repeat the mistakes of the previous administration.