Biden Admin Releases 18K Unaccompanied Migrant Children into U.S. in August
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released more than 18,000 unaccompanied migrant children to sponsors within the United States in August 2021. Another 16,000 are still federally detained and await similar releases.
During the month of August, HHS released an average of 605 unaccompanied migrant children to sponsors, against another 518 apprehended near border crossing points daily—creating little better than a wash on rolling detention totals.
According to HHS, the numbers do not include children from Mexico. In most cases, those children are immediately returned.
According to a source within CBP, many children, mostly teens, are sent into the United States by parents or other relatives to avoid expulsion under the Trump era CDC COVID-19 emergency order. Once the minor is in HHS care, the relative will enter the United States illegally and claim the child to begin the family re-unification process.
The number of unaccompanied migrant children who entered the United States illegally this fiscal year is staggering. According to CBP, 113,791, were apprehended between October and July. This is a nearly 250 percent increase over 2020 totals.
Health and Human Services opened more than a dozen emergency intake sites to deal with the influx of children. These facilities make use of vacant oilfield man camps and COVID-shuttered convention centers.
Unlicensed facilities have faced criticism due to insufficient staffing, drinking water issues, and COVID-19 protections. Earlier this year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sharply criticized the Biden Administration over conditions at multiple HHS detention facilities, specifically citing a water issue in Midland plus a COVID-19 outbreak in Carrizo Springs.
HHS estimates the cost to detain a child is $775 per day. In other long-term facilities, they indicate that cost to be approximately $275 per day. Based on these estimates and the number of UACs currently in custody, the cost to the American taxpayer stands at more than $6 million daily.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Ron DeSantis to Biden Administration: Stop Sending Illegal Aliens to Florida
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered a letter to the Biden administration asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect state residents from “dangerous criminal aliens” being released into communities.
The letter, addressed to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and delivered last week, rebuked Mayorkas for the “flouting of our immigration laws.”
“While Floridians are working to ensure that criminal aliens are not released back into our communities, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears to be hard at work resettling ever larger numbers of illegal aliens who have no lawful status under federal immigration law from the southwest border to Florida,” DeSantis wrote in the letter.
“I ask that DHS immediately cease any further resettlement of illegal aliens in Florida and that the aliens instead be removed from the United States or resettled in states that support the administration’s continued flouting of our immigration laws,” DeSantis wrote.
“The Constitution charges the president with the duty to faithfully execute the laws, and with respect to immigration enforcement, the federal government, with the Supreme Court’s blessing, has assumed near exclusive responsibility,” DeSantis wrote. “Unfortunately, President Biden and this administration refuse to fulfill their responsibility to enforce immigration laws enacted by Congress.”
“It is clear that the crisis at the border is entirely of this administration’s own making,” DeSantis wrote:
US President Joe Biden stands alongside Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas (L) after signing executive orders related to immigration in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 2, 2021 (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images).
“Floridians welcome responsible immigration that serves the interests of Florida and the American people, but we cannot abide the lawlessness that your department is aiding and abetting on the southwest border,” DeSantis wrote:
Immigrants wait in line to become U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony on February 2, 2018 in New York City. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) swore in 128 immigrants from 42 different countries during the ceremony at the downtown Manhattan Federal Building (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images).
Migrants walk on a dirt road after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in Mission, Texas. A surge of migrants on the Southwest border has the Biden administration on the defensive. The head of Homeland Security acknowledged the severity of the problem but insisted it’s under control and said he won’t revive a Trump-era practice of immediately expelling teens and children (AP Photo/Julio Cortez).
Fox News reported on the growing crisis at the U.S. border with Mexico:
More than 212,000 migrants were encountered at the border in July. While about 95,000, mostly single adults, were removed via Title 42 public health protections, the Biden administration is not removing unaccompanied children or some migrant families under the Trump-era order.
The Florida governor cited Border Patrol statistics that 59,691 immigrants were issued either a notice to appear in court or an order of recognizance in July alone, and that as of June, 6,254 unaccompanied children had been released to sponsors in Florida this fiscal year.
A DHS spokesperson told Fox News in a statement that DHS policy remains that single adults and families are removed under Title 42. Those who Mexico will not take are transported to an ICE facility are released with either a notice to appear or a notice to report at an ICE office.
“As part of the process, Border Patrol agents collect biometric and biographic information – fingerprints, photos, phone numbers, and an address in the United States – and run a background check to identify criminals or those who pose a public safety risk,” the spokesperson said.
DeSantis’s letter also asks for more information on aliens who have been sent to Florida, including coronavirus testing and vaccination status.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter or send news tips to pstarr@breitbart.com.
ICE Weekly Deportation Flight Total Exceeds 2020 Pre-Lockdown Figures
ICE Air Operations flew more removal flights during a one-week period than rates seen shortly before the pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Last week, new figures indicated the Biden Administration quietly flew 29 deportation flights to seven different countries, outpacing the average of 27 per week flown prior to March 2020.
Breitbart Texas reviewed data for ICE Air Operations aircraft for the week of August 15 to August 22 and saw 29 removal flights for an unknown number of passengers from the United States. This is nearly triple the weekly amount since the domestic arrival of COVID-19.
During the week, ICE Air Operations, responsible for conducting domestic and international movements of migrants, flew more than 300 hours at a cost of $8,500 per.
The data show ICE Air conducted the removal flights to eight countries. Ten flights were to various locations in Mexico. Several went to Chiapas—the Mexican border state near Guatemala.
Planes also flew to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Haiti, and Ecuador.
According to a CBP source, the move to ramp up removals is directly related to the situation in the Rio Grande Valley and the Del Rio Sector, where Border Patrol is resorting to outdoor detention due to facility overcrowding.
ICE has not revealed much about the flights and provides little data, if any, in response to media inquiries. The data are gathered from commercial flight tracking sources focusing on equipment currently under contract to ICE Air. Recently, as reported by Breitbart Texas, the agency began removal flights to Cuba despite a crackdown on protesters in July.
The level of removal flights conducted under the Biden Administration has now reached and exceeded the levels per week under the Trump administration in February and early March 2020. According to the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), data uncovered in a report shows an average of 27 removal flights per week for the six consecutive weeks prior to March 15, 2020.
During the subsequent six weeks after lockdowns began, flights dropped sharply to an average of 11 per. These levels plateaued until August 2021.
The increase in removal flights might already be showing an impact on the number of migrants seeking to enter the United States illegally. Although the increasing number of removal flights are not highly publicized, word amongst migrants generally spreads fast. According to a source within CBP, migrant apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley are showing modest reductions.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
No comments:
Post a Comment