Migrant Children Archives - The Florida Capital Star

Bombshell Memo from 2021 Warned Unprepared DHS About Surge of Unaccompanied Migrant Children

December 10, 2024 Just the News

Long before Congress became alarmed over as many as 320,000 unaccompanied minor children from the border crisis, the Department of Homeland Security prepared a briefing memo in summer 2021 starkly warning Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that federal authorities were ill-equipped to deal with a surge of young immigrants or reunite them with their parents, according to a copy of the memo reviewed by Just the News.

Analysis: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Lost 300K Migrant Children

August 25, 2024August 24, 2024 Florida Capital Star Staff

In 2014, Vice President Joe Biden was dispatched to Guatemala by President Barack Obama to implore Latin American countries and their citizens to stop smuggling unaccompanied children into the United States.

“These smugglers routinely engage in physical and sexual abuse and extortion of these innocent, young women and men, by and large,” Biden said in a speech in Guatemala City.

Commentary: Kamala Harris’ Tough Border Talk Conceals Radical Immigration Plan

August 24, 2024 Florida Capital Star Staff

Since Kamala Harris unseated President Joe Biden to become the Democratic presidential nominee, her campaign has spent the last few weeks trying to distance herself from the failed policies of the current administration where she holds the title of vice president and was dubbed “Border Czar.”

Despite being part of the administration responsible for an unprecedented 10 million (and counting) encounters of illegal aliens at our borders and at least 2 million “gotaways” who evaded the Border Patrol, our televisions have been bombarded for weeks with ads claiming that a President Harris will be tough on the border.

HHS Whistleblower Says She Was Retaliated Against for Reporting Gangs Who Sponsor Migrant Children

July 23, 2024 Just the News

Health and Human Services whistleblower Tara Rodas says she faced retaliation from the department after she reported concerns that unaccompanied immigrant children were being placed in the hands of sponsors who were affiliated with the notorious Salvadorian MS-13 gang.

“Interestingly, when I discovered that there was MS-13 actually sponsoring the children…. this began when a DHS whistleblower came forward and then alerted us that MS-13 and 18th Street gangs were getting the children, it only took them less than three weeks if you can imagine, to walk me off the site under threat of investigation,” Rodas said on the Wednesday edition of the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “That’s what happened to me.”

Whistleblowers Detail Harrowing Failure to Protect Migrant Children Pouring into U.S. Under Biden

July 10, 2024July 10, 2024 Just the News

Whistleblower Deborah White was a perfect candidate when the government in 2021 made an emergency appeal for federal agencies to provide temporary help to process thousands of migrant children who began crossing the southern border without parents at the beginning of the Biden administration’s border crisis.

Judge Orders Government to ‘Expeditiously’ House Migrant Children

April 4, 2024 Just the News

A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to “expeditiously” house children who illegally enter the country, instead of allowing the children to remain in open-air locations along the border.

Biden Admin to Use Former North Carolina Boarding School Campus to House Migrant Children: Report

June 29, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden administration is planning to use a former North Carolina boarding school campus to house hundreds of migrant children, according to CBS News.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement will open the doors of what used to be the American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina, to house up to 800 migrant children between the ages of 13 and 17 who crossed the southern border illegally, according to CBS News, citing a U.S. official familiar with the plan. The facility is intended to serve as “influx care” to provide emergency housing, which HHS uses when it expects a surge in child migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Biden Administration Loses Track of Tens of Thousands of Migrant Children

April 19, 2023 Just the News

Four years after Democrats made political hay out of migrant children being separated from their parents at the border, Republicans have turned the tables on the issue amid evidence the Biden administration has lost track of as many as 85,000 minors it allowed to enter the country unaccompanied by parents, leaving many prey to cartel extortion, forced labor, abuse and trafficking.

The extraordinary political boomerang will be on full display Tuesday when Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Director Robin Dunn Marcos is grilled by a House Oversight subcommittee on the failure of the Department of Health and Human Services to vet, monitor and track unaccompanied migrant children, whose arrival at the border has grown more than 10-fold since Joe Biden took office.

Border Patrol Chief to Step Down

June 25, 2021June 24, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott will step down after more than 29 years with Customs and Border Protection, he announced Wednesday.

Scott will remain in his position for around 60 days as the agency transitions, he said in a private Facebook post. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shared a screenshot of Scott’s Facebook message with the Daily Caller News Foundation and said the agency would make a formal announcement.

“I received my 3R letter today. For those not familiar, that is Federal government slang for the letter issued to (senior executive staff) level employees informing them of a directed reassignment,” Scott said in the post. “The recipient has 3 options – relocate, resign or retire. No rationale or reason is required, nor is it disciplinary.”

Biden Admin Diverts $2 Billion from Healthcare Programs to Help Illegal Migrant Children

May 18, 2021May 17, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Temporary soft sided facilities are utilized to process noncitizen individuals, noncitizen families and noncitizen unaccompanied children as part of the ongoing response to the current border security and humanitarian effort along the Southwest Border in Donna, Texas, May 4, 2021.

The Biden administration redirected over $2 billion allocated for other health initiatives to care for unaccompanied migrant minors, Politico reported Saturday.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will receive $850 million meant for the federal emergency medical fund depleted by COVID-19 and another $850 million set aside for COVID-19 testing, according to three people familiar with the matter, Politico reported. HHS struggled to open and staff several emergency intake facilities to move over 20,000 migrant children out of border patrol facilities.

“They’ve been in a situation of needing to very rapidly expand capacity, and emergency capacity is much more expensive,” Mark Greenberg, Migration Policy Institute senior fellow and former leader of the Obama administration’s HHS administration for children and families, told Politico. “You can’t just say there’s going to be a waiting list or we’re going to shut off intake. There’s literally not a choice.”

Biden Admin Scrambling to Figure out How Migrant Children Were Left on Buses Overnight Outside Federal Facility

May 17, 2021May 16, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Biden administration officials are investigating reports of unaccompanied migrant minors spending nights on buses outside a federal holding facility in Dallas, Texas, NBC News reported Thursday.

Migrant children are sleeping, eating and using the restroom on buses outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, sometimes for days, according to NBC News.

“This is completely unacceptable,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said, NBC News reported. “We’re quickly investigating this to get to the bottom of what happened, and we’ll work to make sure this never happens again. The safety and well-being of the children is our priority.”

A 15-year-old migrant, Joel, made the journey from Honduras to reunite with his mother and was left on a bus from Saturday until the bus departed on its way to Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday, NBC News reported. His mother, Doris, said an HHS employee told them Joel would arrive Monday despite the bus remaining in Dallas.

Border Patrol Holding Thousands of Migrant Children Past The Legal Limit, Some Detained Longer Than 10 Days

March 23, 2021March 22, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Customs and Border Protection has held at least 800 unaccompanied migrant minors in custody for over 10 days, Axios reported

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can legally hold unaccompanied minors for 72 hours, though over 3,300 were in custody over the limit as of Saturday, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by Axios. Over 2,200 unaccompanied minors were held for more than five days and around 820 were in custody for over 10 days.

The number of unaccompanied minors in CBP custody for over 10 days has quadrupled in the last week, Axios reported. Only around 180 unaccompanied minors were in CBP custody for over 10 days as of last Monday.

Biden Administration Won’t Allow Media to Tour Migrant Children Facility ‘Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic’

March 3, 2021March 2, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Members of the media will not be able to visit migrant detention centers holding minors near the southern border due to COVID-19, a spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Reporters will not be allowed inside the Carrizo Springs facility for unaccompanied minors that was recently opened under the Biden administration in Texas, a Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) spokesperson told the DCNF.

Biden Administration Is Lying About the Reason for a New Migrant Child Detention Center, Former Border Official Says

February 25, 2021February 24, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

A new facility to hold unaccompanied migrant children was opened in Texas this week because the Biden administration is encouraging illegal immigration, a former border official said Wednesday.

The Carrizo Springs facility was not opened to comply with COVID-19 regulations as the Biden administration has said, according to former Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan in an interview with Fox Business.

Biden Administration Weighing How to Prevent a Humanitarian Crisis with Increasing Numbers of Unaccompanied Children Arriving at the Border

February 24, 2021February 23, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden administration aims to avoid a humanitarian crisis at the southern border as the number of migrant children seeking asylum increases.

Over 5,700 unaccompanied minors reached the border in January and government shelters are quickly reaching capacity, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shelters for migrant children are operating at 60% capacity to maintain COVID-19 guidelines and were 93% full as of Friday.