Biden seeks to appease ultra-right with refugee policy
President Joe Biden abruptly reversed himself on how many refugees the United States would accept this year, after a political firestorm erupted when the White House announced it was retaining the ceiling of 15,000 refugees set by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Biden had pledged during the election campaign to raise the ceiling on refugees to 125,000 a year still a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of refugees created by US-instigated wars and conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, the principal driving force of recent mass migrations.
Immigrants in a US detention center
Associated Press
For the third time in seven years, U.S. officials are scrambling to handle a dramatic spike in children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone, leading to a massive expansion in emergency facilities to house them as more kids arrive than are being released to close relatives in the United States.
More than 22,000 migrant children were in government custody as of Thursday, with 10,500 sleeping on cots at convention centers, military bases and other large venues likened to hurricane evacuation shelters with little space to play and no privacy. More than 2,500 are being held by border authorities in substandard facilities.
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The group in charge didn t provide adequate living conditions, sources say.
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GOP senators tour southern border
ABC News’ Rachel Scott reports from the U.S.-Mexico border, as GOP senators tour facilities there and more migrants make their way north. Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The Biden administration over the weekend shuttered a Houston warehouse that housed unaccompanied migrant children following allegations that the nonprofit organization running the site failed to provide adequate living conditions for hundreds of young girls, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
What was our change in policy from the morning to the afternoon? Jen Psaki denies White House did a U-turn on refugee caps because of Democrat backlash in tense back-and-forth with reporters
White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued the Biden administration did not make a reversal on its refugee policy
She refused to entertain questions about if a change came after outraged Democrats on Capitol Hill blasted President Joe Biden for his decision This was always meant to be just the beginning, she said
She got into terse back-and-forth with reporters on the issue in her briefing