It is no surprise that conditions at the border are worsening, especially with Covid still a major problem. As of lately, more and more people have been gathering at the borders in hopes of Biden’s plans to be initiated. Due to this, many children have become detained in an overcrowded government-run tent facility at the US-Mexico border and are saying they haven’t been able to shower for days or contact their parents. As if that is not bad enough, the children were terrified, crying and worried about not being able to speak with family members. Some even had said they hadn’t seen sunlight in days, however if they were lucky, they would get to go outside for 20 minutes every few days. As of right now, there are more than 3,700 unaccompanied children in the agencies custody, which is a record high. Being in the custody of border patrol is no place for a child to begin with, but to make matters worse the children are being separated by age and sex meaning siblings are often separated from each other and their parents. Several children have been in these centers for a while, bearing scars from beatings or torture at the hands of gangs and cartels.
One of the major contributors to this problem is the fact that children are arriving at numbers much greater than Biden’s administrations ability to place them in shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services. There is also a limited capacity at shelters, therefore children are being held in these facilities beyond the 72-hour limit the law requires.
With that being said, there are many issues that will hopefully be addressed. Whether that be through the Biden administration opening new facilities to house these children, the administration adopting more restrictive policies on immigration, or officials finding a way to balance their policy goals with growing pressure at the border, any action could help make a major difference in these children’s lives.
For any further questions, feel free to contact CIMA Law Group.
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