Asylum Seekers Enter US As Biden Ends "Remain In Mexico" Policy
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 24: The U.S. flag flies at half staff at a port of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border on February 24, 2021 in Brownsville, Texas. U.S. President Joe Biden ordered U.S. flags on federal property to be flown at half staff for five days of mourning after the U.S. passed 500,000 deaths due to Covid-19. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

After Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) released photos of overcrowded holding facilities, the Biden administration asked for volunteers from other federal agencies in assisting border officials due to the continuous surge in illegal border crossing.

Officials at the border have been overwhelmed by the surge, as thousands of minors are stuck in holding facilities. The U.S. government is struggling to process them because of a backlog. As of Thursday, more than 16,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody. This includes around 5,000 in the facilities of Customs and Border Protection.

According to Daily Mail, the federal Office of Personnel Management is hoping that volunteers from other agencies can assist the Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in dealing with the surge of unaccompanied minors.

After the OPM released a memo asking numerous government agencies to send some of their people to volunteer deployments at the border for up to 120 days, the agency is currently waiting for the list of staff who will volunteer, Fox News reported.

A spokesperson from the OPM shared that they are actively working on screening, processing, and deploying the volunteers while extending their recruitment efforts and exploring other avenues to strengthen their staff resources at the border. Even the ORR, an office inside the Health and Human Services, is building new facilities that could cater to migrants in areas of Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, and Fort Bliss, an Army base close to El Paso.

But the Biden administration is not only recruiting staff for the border but also finding ways for a safer journey, as health certificates are also important while traveling locally or abroad.

Post-Pandemic Passport

Meanwhile, as the economy slowly sees the green light and businesses re-emerge from lockdown due to COVID-19, the White House reported on Sunday that the Biden administration, alongside private technology and travel companies, is developing a technology that will serve as a passport.

It will hold health certificates and travel passes, which show proof of vaccination of individuals traveling locally or abroad.

Based on a Fox Business report, the airline and business groups had been lobbying the Biden administration to initiate setting standards for health passes. The business groups also believe that confusion on regional credentials will be avoided once they have established a single widely-accepted health certificate.

The efforts of the administration are housed in offices of Health and Human Services. The White House is currently taking a bigger role as Jeff Zients serves as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator for all government agencies involved in the plan, Washington Post reported.

During a March 12 briefing, Zients shared that their role is to help ensure that any solution that will be developed should be simple, free, open-source, and accessible to the public on paper and digitally. The White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator also confirmed that from the start, they are designing it to protect every individual's privacy, Fox Business reported.

Moreover, officials stated that getting vaccinated and proper documentation in the passports will smooth every individual's way to travel and even social gatherings in a post-pandemic era.

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