Under the Biden administration, the Border Patrol is now the Welcome Wagon for migrant families and unaccompanied minors smuggled to the b...
Under the Biden administration, the Border Patrol is now the Welcome Wagon for migrant families and unaccompanied minors smuggled to the border by human trafficking cartels. Unlike the Trump administration which had a policy of immediately returning to Mexico nearly all illegal border crossers, Biden is now allowing children traveling “alone” and a majority of migrant families to stay in the U.S. while their bogus asylum claims are processed. The abrupt change in policy, coupled with Biden shutting down construction of President Trump’s border wall while promising amnesty for illegal aliens has provoked a flood of migrants who are overwhelming the system.
File image of migrant caravan.
Axios reported in an exclusive Saturday the Biden administration has let a six-month contract worth $86 million to a Texas non-profit to house up to 1,200 migrant families at hotels in border communities in Texas and Arizona (excerpt):
The Biden administration has awarded an $86 million contract for hotel rooms near the border to hold around 1,200 migrant family members who cross the U.S.-Mexico border, DHS officials confirmed to Axios.
…The contract through Endeavors, a Texas-based nonprofit, is for six months but could be extended and expanded. The hotels will be near border areas, including in Arizona and Texas.
…Border officials continue to use a Trump-era order to quickly return many families to Mexico. But Mexico has limited capacity to take in migrant families and won’t accept some with young children, according to administration officials.
42% of families were expelled to Mexico last month — down from 64% in January and 91% in October, according to the data. More than 13,000 family members who crossed the U.S. border illegally have been allowed into the country since the start of January, many released into border communities.
The Biden administration does not use the order to expel unaccompanied children, as the previous administration did…
End excerpt. Please read the complete Axios report at this link.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy (CT) ripped the Biden administration for their failure to properly house migrant children in comments to NPR Saturday morning, saying, “These are facilities you wouldn’t want your child in for more than 10 mins.”
Murphy quickly walked back the criticism on Twitter and blamed President Trump, “The Biden team is doing the best they can. These kids stay so long in detention bc 1) this surge – which started last fall – is so large; and 2) Trump dismantled the asylum system, including the ability for these kids to apply for asylum before they enter the US.”
Handling migrants is a new endeavor for Endeavors, which has previously focused on community services and veterans’ mental health and homelessness in San Antonio. Endeavors announced their migrant effort just ten days ago.
Excerpt from Endeavors statement:
With the help of federal funding, Endeavors is launching a new department called Migrant Services to support asylum-seekers, as well as a broader population, crossing our borders. Who is an asylum-seeker? An asylum-seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country but who hasn’t yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. At Endeavors, we see asylum-seeking as a human right, and we see helping asylum-seekers build a safer and better life as our honor and duty as Americans.
Under this new pillar of Migrant Services, Endeavors will operate a Migrant Wellness program and employ its Children and Family Services division to serve migrant individuals, families, and unaccompanied children nation-wide.
With the launch of our Migrant Wellness program, Endeavors is thrilled to provide invaluable mental health and wellness services to individuals and families who have migrated to the United States due to desperate and dangerous circumstances. The trauma that adults and young children can experience during migration doesn’t end when they cross the United States border. The cultural and linguistic adjustments alone can cause significant distress, let alone the anxiety of experiencing homelessness in a new country, with no job or means of accessing food, shelter, or basic necessities.
…Helping unaccompanied children who have migrated to the United States is deeply important to us. In fact, for years Endeavors has been providing Home Study Post Release Services (HSPRS) for children in Texas through our Children and Family Services division. Through our new Migrant Services pillar, we are now able to extend our care and expertise to the many unaccompanied children and their generous sponsors nationwide. Whatever circumstances lead a child to find themselves as an unaccompanied migrant, our ultimate goal is to reunify them with a loving and caring family member or sponsor.
The first step is to provide a safe and supportive shelter for these children with nowhere to go. Once these children are safe and cared for, we’ll ensure the safe placement of unaccompanied children by completing home studies of family and/ or sponsors before they are released to them. Then, we’ll facilitate a smooth transition from the shelter to the sponsor’s home, assisting both children and sponsors in connecting to their communities, as well as various resources available to them.
We’re honored to work very closely with families and sponsors to help integrate these children into their new home, school, and community. In fact, our teams actually work one-on-one with sponsors to teach them how to provide care and support for these children who have survived an incredible journey and who very likely carry significant trauma.
At Endeavors, we believe that comprehensive and compassionate care is the future of managing migration — that by extending our hearts and hands to humanitarian asylum seekers, we can make our country and our world a better place for all.
Endeavors, a San Antonio-based nonprofit, is a longstanding national nonprofit agency that provides an array of programs and services supporting children, families, Veterans, and those struggling with mental illness, disabilities, disasters, or emergencies. Endeavors has served vulnerable people in need since 1969 through personalized services. Today, our team has offices in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Puerto Rico. We are honored to now take on the mission of helping migrant populations in need. For more information, please visit www.endeavors.org.
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