Biden Admin Weighs Flying Migrants to Canadian Border
A Honduran mother carries her son, 4, across the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a group of at least 25 asylum seekers who where were allowed to travel from a migrant camp in Mexico into the United States on February 25, 2021 in Matamoros, Mexico. The group was the first allowed to cross into south Texas as part of the unwinding of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols, (MPP), also known as the 'Remain in Mexico' immigration policy. Many of the immigrants had been waiting in the squalid camp alongside the Rio Grande for more than a year. Last week the first group of 25 MPP immigrants entered from Tijuana into San Ysidro, California. John Moore/Getty Images

As the United States faces the biggest migrant surge in 20 years, the Biden administration is eyeing flying Latin American migrants to states near the Canadian border to ease overcrowding in Texas facilities.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told The Washington Post that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has already requested the air support from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to huge numbers of migrants crossing in the south.

According to a Fox News report, officials said some 1,000 migrant families and unaccompanied minors crossed the Rio Grande into South Texas on Friday morning, and another 1,000 were still awaiting processing from Thursday night.

The administration continued to deny that the situation at the southern border is a "crisis." However, Joe Biden earlier urged future migrants not to come to the U.S, saying there "we're sending back people."

Most single adults' arrivals are now being expelled under a Trump-era provision called Title 42, which cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the basis for the quick expulsion of asylum seekers. On the other hand, all unaccompanied children will be admitted, and that families will only be expelled if Mexico has space to house them.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted that they are "on pace to encounter" more migrants than they have in the last 20 years.

The DHS encountered more than 100,441 migrants who tried to cross the southern border last month. It was the highest since 2019. On Friday, Mayorkas went to visit the southern border to inspect facilities.

The CBP has yet to decide which facilities near the Canadian border will take in the migrants. During the peak of the 2019 border surge, ICE air flights had been utilized to transport migrants to different border sectors that had the capacity to hold them.

In recent days, CBP has also used an ICE plane to send migrants from the Rio Grande sector facilities to El Paso.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be allocating $110 million for nonprofit organizations and government agencies providing food and shelter to migrants at the southern border.

FEMA noted that the money would come from $510 million in supplemental funding through the COVID-19 stimulus package.

Migrant Influx

A rift between the Biden administration and the state of Texas over COVID-19 safety for migrants persisted. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has delayed funding from FEMA to test and possibly quarantine migrant families, a DHS spokesperson said, as reported by ABC News Go.

There are agreements between DHS and mayors and local health officials, stipulating that the federal government would cover 100 percent of COVID-19 testing for migrants crossing the border.

Renae Eze, the governor's press secretary, said the federal government alone has the responsibility to screen, test, and quarantine illegal migrants crossing the border who may have COVID-19.

The press secretary added that the administration continued to pressure the state of Texas to help them in the illegal migration program.

Aside from rejecting the funding, Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar also raised concerns regarding Abbott's announcement that immigrants are bringing diseases like COVID-19 into the U.S. Escobar said that this only fuels racism and xenophobia, which can be very dangerous and consequential.

Meanwhile, Abbott continued to blame the Biden administration for the current situation at the border, saying that the administration has given the green light to dangerous cartels and other criminal activities.

Abbott noted that border security is the federal government's responsibility. But he stressed that he would not allow the administration's failures to endanger the lives of Texans.

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