Inside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, some children cry uncontrollably on metal cots lined up in rows in a massive hallway, volunteers say. Calls to their families can be few and far between, and they usually only get sunlight when bathing in outdoor showers.
In March, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced that up to 3,000 teenage boys would be brought to the convention center. The facility is one of several temporary emergency shelters scattered across the country to house unaccompanied migrant teenagers. The Biden administration set these temporary facilities up because there wasn t enough space in existing ones.
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On Tuesday, 281 children were apprehended at the border, nearly half the numbers seen in March.
Fewer than 500 kids are being held by US Customs and Border Protection, down from a high of 5,700. The Biden administration has successfully solved the issue of children in Border Patrol custody, said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council.
It was the first big political crisis of the Biden administration: unaccompanied children, fleeing poverty and violence in Central America, crossing the border and seeking asylum. The numbers weren t far from what was seen the previous year, under President Donald Trump, but the surge was real as was the inability of the federal government to process and shelter those coming in a timely, humane manner.
Border apprehensions remained at a 20-year high in April, but arrivals of children and families decreased By Camilo Montoya-Galvez An exclusive look at the asylum process
Fewer unaccompanied minors and families entered U.S. custody along the southern border in April than in March, but the number of overall apprehensions of migrants rose slightly, according to government data released Tuesday. The rise was driven by an increase in single adults, most of whom are being expelled to Mexico.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials at the U.S.-Mexico border made more than 178,000 apprehensions in April, a slight increase from the 173,000 in March. More than 111,000 of those taken into custody were single adults. That demographic has been making up the bulk of recent border apprehensions, which have reached levels not seen in two decades.
Border apprehensions remained at a 20-year high in April Camilo Montoya-Galvez
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Fewer unaccompanied minors and families entered U.S. custody along the southern border in April than in March, but the number of overall apprehensions of migrants rose slightly, according to government data released Tuesday. The rise was driven by an increase in single adults, most of whom are being expelled to Mexico.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials at the U.S.-Mexico border made more than 178,000 apprehensions in April, a slight increase from the 173,000 in March. More than 111,000 of those taken into custody were single adults. That demographic has been making up the bulk of recent border apprehensions, which have reached levels not seen in two decades.