By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--March 9, 2021
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Question for President Joe Biden’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, the federal agency charged with housing migrant minors: “Where is your list of parents and relative sponsors to whom the children can be turned over rather than keeping them in cages that look a lot like the ones used by former President Barack Obama for weeks and even months on end?”
Parents in the countries who allow their kids to travel unaccompanied to the U.S. border, and the relatives already in the U.S. expected to sponsor them on arrival, must know that they’ve arrived, so how about it?…”The federal agency charged with housing these minors, has been receiving an average of 337 children per day, according to figures shared with Congress. “The figure for the first full month of the Biden administration is the most migrant children the refugee office has ever received in a February. The previous record high for a February came in 2019, when the refugee office took in nearly 5,900 minors, the agency said in a statement to CBS News.”What government measures are in effect to protect these children from sexual abuse and human trafficking while in custody at government “reception centers"?
“The Washington Examiner reported late last week that multiple sources familiar with the matter said that the Biden administration was considering changing the names of the facilities to “reception centers” because it sounded less harsh. (CBS News)Sounding less harsh does not make life in the centers less harsh.
“The name would distinguish the facilities, one of which has been set up in Carrizo Springs, Texas, from existing structures maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Refugee Resettlement,” the report said. “Images of one such Border Patrol facility led to criticism that President Donald Trump held children in ‘cages.’ Often, other such buildings are called ‘detention centers’ or ‘holding facilities.” (CBS News)
Could it be that these children no longer matter because it is not Donald Trump but Joe Biden who’s president?“Where is AOC now that there are MORE children being held in the same cages?”On a day in which #AlexandriaOcasioSmollett is trending, please never forget the time that @AOC staged a photo shoot dressed in all white at a parking lot to spread lies about immigrant children in cages.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) February 3, 2021
Faking her own attempted murder was the next logical step. pic.twitter.com/y8mNNowMGy
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“As first reported by CBS News last weekend, the refugee agency has instructed its shelters and foster homes for unaccompanied migrant children to begin using beds that had been taken offline during the coronavirus pandemic to implement social distancing measures. (CBS News) “On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized the refugee agency's shelters to return bed space back to pre-pandemic levels, citing "extraordinary circumstances," according to an internal government memo obtained by CBS News. “The CDC said "enhanced" coronavirus mitigation measures should be undertaken as shelters expand their bed space. These include universal masking for all staff and children 2 and older, increasing the use of rapid coronavirus testing, providing employees protective personal equipment, minimizing movement inside facilities and giving shelter workers paid leave to seek vaccination. “For months now, the refugee agency has been requiring newly arrived migrant children to test negative for the coronavirus twice and undergo quarantine. "Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no 0% risk scenario, particularly in congregate settings," the memo said. "Therefore, ORR facilities should plan for and expect to have COVID-19 cases."
"It is obviously very, very concerning," a senior White House official told CBS News, referring to the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. "People are being exploited and told lies and coming in the absence of understanding that they are undertaking this dangerous trip and that the border is closed." “The Biden administration in late January made a decision not to resume the Trump-era practice of swiftly expelling unaccompanied minors without a court hearing under a public health authority. Instead, it has been transferring the children to the refugee office, as required by U.S. law, until they can be placed with vetted sponsors, who are typically relatives in the U.S. “Mr. Biden has instructed senior members of his team to visit the U.S.-Mexico border to assess the sharp rise in unaccompanied minors entering U.S. custody, according to a White House spokesperson who declined to say when the visit would occur, citing "safety, security, and privacy concerns.”What about the “safety, security, and private concerns for the minors already being housed?
"While CDC recognizes the inherent risk posed by any congregate housing facility, CBP facilities are not appropriate for housing children.” (CBS News)
“Most facilities overseen by CBP, which has a legal obligation to transfer unaccompanied children to the U.S. refugee office within three days of taking them into custody, were built to briefly detain migrant men. “To respond to the uptick in border crossings, the U.S. refugee agency reopened a Trump-era influx holding facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, that was housing nearly 300 teenage boys this week. It has also agreed to pay for the airfare of children ready to be released to sponsors. “HHS has also asked the Pentagon to facilitate a site assessment of the U.S. Army base in Fort Lee, Virginia, to evaluate whether the military installation can house unaccompanied children, Department of Defense spokesman Chris Mitchell told CBS News. “The Biden administration is also weighing the possibility of placing HHS caseworkers inside Border Patrol facilities to expedite the process of identifying potential sponsors for unaccompanied children, Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said earlier in the week. “Jennifer Nagda, the policy director at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, said the proposal outlined by Mayorkas would help reduce the number of children in U.S. government custody. She said the Biden administration "inherited a system unprepared to respond to the effects of the prior administration's cruel policies.”It was the Biden administration that opened up the southern border for easy undocumented migrant access. Unfortunately, under this administration children are no more than political pawns on the Democrat chess board.
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