The mainstream media is being silent as the Biden administration holds unaccompanied migrant children in Border Patrol custody longer than legally allowed, the head of the Border Patrol union stated. The minors are being held in the same “cages” the media and Democrat politicians loudly criticized the Trump administration for.
National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told Breitbart Texas that as of Monday, Border Patrol officials held more than 800 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) in custody. Despite the legal requirement to release the children to other federal agencies within 72 hours, more than 212 remained in custody longer than the legal limit.
“Today, [White House Press Secretary] Jen Psaski said the Administration could not hold the children in other locations due to the Covid protocols including social distancing,” Judd told Breitbart, “but what she didn’t tell the media was that the children in [Border Patrol’s] custody were being held in conditions that have nearly no way to social distance.”
Psaki’s remarks came in a Tuesday press briefing in response to questions from Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy. Forbes tweeted a video of the exchange.
To be clear, Judd states that the Biden administration is holding unaccompanied minors in Border Patrol custody longer than the law allows in conditions where social distancing cannot be maintained in order to keep social distancing in other federal facilities.
“The hypocrisy from the left and the mainstream media truly shows they care nothing for the children they used as pawns to attack President Trump.” Judd said.
“Today Jen Psaski said ‘Customs and Border Control’ [not Customs and Border Protection] continue to transfer unaccompanied children to HHS’ Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR),” the Border Patrol union leader explained. “She went to great lengths to explain that due to the pandemic and social distancing, ORR only has capacity for a certain number of children.”
“What she didn’t explain is that the children that ORR doesn’t have that capacity to take are left in facilities far worse than those of HHS,” Judd continued. “In fact, they are being held in the same locations they accused the Trump Administration of inhuman acts when they said he was holding ‘kids in cages.'”
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attacked the Biden administration for their expanded policy of opening detention facilities in South Texas, Breitbart’s John Binder reported.
“This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay — no matter the administration or party,” the New York congresswoman wrote.
Despite shortages of detention space, the Biden administration, through the U.S> Border Patrol, issued instructions to immediately release migrants in South Texas in order to deal with overcrowding in temporary holding facilities, Breitbart’s Randy Clark reported Tuesday night.
The continuing increase in the apprehension of unaccompanied minors is creating a crisis for the Biden administration along the Southwest border.
The number of Unaccompanied Alien Children illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. is increasing from month to month, according to reports from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. In January 2021, Border Patrol agents apprehended 5,871 unaccompanied minors. This is up from 4,995 in December 2020 and 3,076 in January 2020.
Breitbart Texas reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol for confirmation of the numbers of migrants being held in custody by Border Patrol and how long they are being held. An immediate response from officials was not available by the time of this article’s publication.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.