Latest on the crisis at the US border: Live updates | CNN Politics (2024)

White House press secretary Jen Psaki continued the administration’s messaging that migrants should not attempt to come to the US right now as the southern border sees a surge in migrants, specifically unaccompanied children.

Psaki pushed back on a reporter’s question as to whether the US might be, intentionally or otherwise, incentivizing parents to send their unaccompanied children to the United States, echoing the president’s warning to would be migrants.

“Certainly you’ve heard the President say in this interview that he conducted that he is encouraging people not to come. Now is not the time to come. This is not a safe journey for people to take of any age,” Psaki said at the White House press briefing on Wednesday.

She added that every administration official that speaks about the situation at the border is urging people not to come to the US right now, specifically mentioning Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who testified on Capitol Hill today about the surge in migrants.

“The border is secure and the border is not open,” Mayorkas said.

Psaki, again declining to call the border situation a crisis, said it is “no doubt a complicated circ*mstance,” but the administration is trying to “address this in an effective and humane manner.”

She said that the President hopes to work with Congress to address the root causes of migration, because if those root causes are not addressed, cycles of surges in migrants could continue.

Earlier in the briefing, Psaki said that the administration has no plans on putting a cap on the number of unaccompanied minors allowed into the US.

“We’re not going to send a 10 year old back across the border. That was the policy of the last administration, that’s not our policy here,” she said.

In an exchange Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dismissed reports the White House was blocking press access to migrant facilities at the border.

She told reporters in the Briefing Room,“we remain committed to sharing with all of you, data on the number of kids crossing the border, the steps we’re taking, the work we’re doing to open up facilities, our own bar we’re setting for ourselves on improving and expediting the timeline and the, the treatment of these children.”

Still, Psaki said, “I don’t have an update for you on the timeline for access, but it’s certainly something we support.”

Pressed on if the White House has ordered border agents not to allow reporters on ride alongs, as they had in the Trump administration, Psaki dodged, telling reporters, “It’s coordinated through the Department of Homeland Security and I point you to them for any additional questions about the logistics of press access.”

The White House has not allowed press access to facilities used to house migrants, despite repeated requests, citing privacy concerns and the ongoing pandemic.

“Again, we fully support transparency,” Psaki told reporters in a follow up, “and I would encourage you to talk to the Department of Homeland Security about any requests you have for press access or what you’re looking to accomplish at the border.”

As the situation at the border continues to develop, back in Washington, House Democrats are looking to move forward with legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,a key pillar of President Biden’s immigration plan.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced on a press call Tuesday that the House will officially be taking up twoimmigrationbillson the floor this Thursday: The Dream & Promise Act and the Farmworker Workforce Modernization Act.

Hoyer admitted, “these twobillsare not the fix, but they are fix to part of the problem.”

Hoyer vowed that the House will pass comprehensiveimmigrationreform “in the coming months,” even as that path seems increasingly unlikely in the Senate especially in light of Senator Dick Durbin’s comments to CNN’s Manu Raju on Mondaysayinghe doesn’t believe there’s enough support in this Congress to pass a full-blownimmigrationbill with a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“We need to pass comprehensiveimmigrationreform and we are going to do so in the coming months,” Hoyer said.

Digging in deeper Hoyer later added, “we promised to our base that we were for comprehensiveimmigrationreform. We are. We’re going to be working on that.”

“It is my expectation that we will bring as I said a comprehensive bill to the floor,” he added.

Asked whether the situation at the border is affecting the debate onimmigration, Hoyer pushed back by saying, “let’s be honest. The Republicans have for a long period of time usedimmigrationas a political football to impart fear and apprehension in the minds of Americans.”

“Republicans demagogue this issue” Hoyer added, making clear that he thinks the GOP are leaning into this because “they believe it’s a political benefit for them.”

Hoyer said that there is consensus that theimmigrationsystem is broken, namely because there is not an effective path to citizenship, and argued that what’s happening at the border now “is an example of, the results of it being broken, and the Biden administration clearly recognizes there’s a challenge.”

Coming to the defense of the Biden administration’s handling of the growing crisis at the border, Hoyer added, “they have been in office now for what, 54 days or something like that. And they’re going to try to deal with the problem, but they want to fix the problem. Dealing with the problem in a way that demagogues the problem has not been helpful, is not helpful.”

The new details emerging daily at the US-Mexico border are tough to track.

It’s a fast-moving situation, described by the Biden administrationas a “stressful challenge”and decried by critics of immigrationas a “crisis.”There are a lot of developments we’re still learning in real time.

Here’s a look at some of the key numbers we’ve been hearing, the deeper stories behind them and the questions we have:

More than 3,700

More than 100,000

Read more here.

GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said today that the Biden administration must “answer for enticing unaccompanied minors into inhumane conditions” that “expose these children to traffickers, to abuse, and to terror.”

The governor made his remarks at a news conference held across the street from the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which is one of several sites preparing to house unaccompanied minors who cross the Texas-Mexico border.

“These sites are a direct result of President Biden’s reckless open border policies that are causing a surge in border crossings and cartel activity. The administration has yet to provide answers that Texans deserve. How long will these children be here? What countries have they come from and what Covid variants have they been exposed to?” Abbott said.

The governor said border crossings are up and “on pace to hit a 20-year high.”

The Biden administration has stopped short of calling the situation at the border a “crisis.”Speaking duringhis first congressional hearing since confirmation, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers thesituation at the borderis “undoubtedly difficult.”

In response to the top Republican on the committee, Rep. John Katko, Mayorkas said, “I’m not spending any time on the language that we use.”

The use of the word “crisis” has become a sticking point for the administration, as the White House has also declined use the description, sometimes referring to it as a “challenge.”

Mayorkas later said, “I will share with you how I define a crisis. A crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration. That to me is a humanitarian crisis.”

In an interview with ABC on Tuesday, President Biden discouraged migrants from crossing the border saying,“I can say quite clearly: Don’t come.”

With an increasing number of children crossing the US-Mexico border alone, Border Patrol facilities are where kids have to stay until officials can transfer them to shelters that are appropriate for them. These facilities are designed to care for adults, not kids, and are akin to jail-like facilities with concrete walls and benches.

Children at stations in the Tucson, Arizona, region, for instance, have to be transported from Border Patrol stations to a central coordination center to get showers, the Border Patrol agent told CNN.

“There are kids that have been there days and days,” the agent said, pointing out that the agency is abiding by the law to care for children, except it is unable to meet the 72-hour legal requirement. “You just can’t right now.”

Federal law requires unaccompanied children to be turned over within 72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees a shelter network designed to house minors.

The senior official heading Customs and Border Protection, Troy Miller, told reporters that minors receive three meals daily, have 24/7 access to snacks and drinks and that showers are provided at least every 48 hours. They also have access to a recreation area, Miller said.

Homeland Security SecretaryAlejandro Mayorkas acknowledged the scope of the problem.

“The Border Patrol facilities have become crowded with children and the 72-hour timeframe for the transfer of children from the Border Patrol to [HHS] is not always met,” Mayorkas said in a statement Tuesday.

“HHS has not had the capacity to intake the number of unaccompanied children we have been encountering,” Mayorkas said.

In February, more than 9,400 children — ranging in ages — crossed the US-Mexico border,according to the latest available data from Customs and Border Protection. That’s up from January and is expected to continue trending upward.

On Monday, CBP encountered around 570 unaccompanied children, CNN has learned. Seventy-six were 12 years old and under.

“March will be bigger than February,” in terms of apprehensions based on current data, “and quite ugly” the Homeland Security official said.

TheBiden administrationplans to use a convention center in Dallas to hold more than 2,000 migrant teenagers, according to a Department of Homeland Security official and a city memo obtained by CNN.

The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center would be temporarily used to shelter teenage boys who arrived at the US-Mexico border alone, the official said.

Rocky Vaz, director of the Office of Emergency Management in Dallas, described the facility as a “decompression center” and told city leaders it would house teen boys ages 15 to 17 “to help relieve the overcrowding currently at the border,” according to the memo.

The plans,first reported by The Associated Press, mark the latest attempt by the administration to keep up with the number of unaccompanied children at the US-Mexico border. In the absence of additional shelter space, facilities along the border have been under increased strain.

As of Sunday, there weremore than 4,200 childrenin US Border Patrol custody.

Lawyerswho spoke with about a dozen children held in a Border Patrol facilityin Texas said kids were terrified, crying and worried about not being able to speak with family members. Some said they hadn’t seen sunlight in days. Others said that if they were lucky, they would go outside for 20 minutes every few days.

Officials have been scrambling to find space to accommodate children and cut down on their time in Border Patrol facilities, which are intended to process adults, not care for children.

HHS recently opened a new emergency intake site in Texas to process the growing number of children crossing the US-Mexico border alone, the department said.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed reporting to this post.

President Biden discouraged would-be migrants from coming to the United States, telling ABC News on Tuesday, “I can say quite clearly: Don’t come.”

The President continued: “We’re in the process of getting set up. Don’t leave your town or city or community.”

Homeland Security SecretaryAlejandro Mayorkas continued that theme in today’s House hearing, saying: “The border is secure and the border is not open” when asked by Democratic Rep.Sheila Jackson Lee to succinctly describe his border policy and moving migrant children to temporary sites.

“We are expelling under the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) public health authority in light of the pandemic. Single individuals who arrive at the border. We are expelling families under that same public health authority, limited only by the capacity of Mexico to receive them,” he added.

Mayorkas said they are not expelling children who are unaccompanied without a parent or a legal guardian and noted that they are “caring for their custody and their sheltering.”

Republicans pushed back on Mayorkas’ characterization of the situation at the border. New York Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the committee, said the situation on the border, where he just visited, continues to “get worse everyday with inadequate action or even proper acknowledgement of the severity of the situation.”

“I can tell you without hesitation that it is indeed a crisis that continues to deepen each and every day,” he said.

Homeland Security SecretaryAlejandro Mayorkasdeclined to call the situation along the Southwest border a “crisis” during his first congressional testimony since taking office.

In response to the top Republican on the committee, Rep. John Katko, Mayorkas said, “I’m not spending any time on the language that we use.”

The use of the word “crisis” has become a sticking point for the administration, as the White House has also declined use the description, sometimes referring to it as a “challenge.”

Mayorkas later said, “I will share with you how I define a crisis. A crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration. That to me is a humanitarian crisis.”

He said President Biden is committed to ensuring an “immigration system works” and that migration to the US is “safe, orderly and humane.”

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On the banks of the Rio Grande near the south Texas city of Hildalgo, dozens of undocumented migrants — mostly women and young children — descended a hill on the Mexican side of the border in an orderly procession.

The sun set Thursday over an all-too-familiar portrait of desperation in the the Rio Grande Valley. Some women carried wailing babies while others hauled bags of belongings to the edge of the muddy river, where a group of men awaited them with life vests to take turns crossing from Mexico to the United States. That day alone, authorities said, 2,000 migrants were apprehended in the valley.

“From Honduras,” several migrants shouted at a CNN correspondent who asked where they were from. Some had been traveling for months — fleeing violence, poverty and the destruction wrought bya pair of hurricanes,they said. CNN observed the raft make about half a dozen trips across the river.

“We come for a new opportunity,” said one man, who traveled with his wife and young daughter.

The scene reflects asurge of migrants, particularly children,challenging the new administration of President Biden, who entered officepromising to reverse the hardline policiesof his predecessor.

Roxana Rivera, 28, said she and her six-year-old daughter left Honduras after back-to-back November hurricanes destroyed her home and everything in it.

Word back home, Rivera said, was that the US was now allowing people with children to freely cross the border — which wasn’t entirely true. She heard that on the news, she said. Relatives in the US relayed the same information. Other migrants had similar stories.

Rivera said she was elated when the group she crossed the border with — mostly mothers and their children — was picked up by border agents. The migrants were processed, then taken to a bus station in Brownsville, Texas, where they were tested for Covid-19 and offered supplies by nonprofits before their release. She planned to stay with relatives in Houston while her immigration case is processed.

Rivera said she at times regretted embarking on the long journey north by foot and by train— putting her daughter’s life at risk. Sometimes the girl would ask for food and she had none to offer her. One time, she said, her daughter became dehydrated. Another time she had to seek medical attention in Mexico when her daughter had a fever.

Maria Mendoza, a 30-year-old migrant from El Salvador, appeared exhausted as she arrived in Brownsville after processing by immigration officials. She was hoping to reunite with relatives who live in Maryland, she said through tears.

Mendoza recalled that the raft she and others used on a midnight crossing of the Rio Grande flipped over, sending several mothers and their children into the water. She said there were days when she did not eat so that her 6-year-old daughter would not go hungry. Her daughter remembered evading a snake along the way.

“More than anything I want to be reunited with my family,” she said. “We want to make a life here. A better future for our children.”

Read more here.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the situation on the southern border cannot be fixed overnight, but it shows why the country needs to rebuild its immigration policies.

“Our primary responsibility is to keep our homeland and the American people safe. We are safer when we take a more comprehensive and sustainable approach to border management, ensuring that policies and procedures at the border are consistent with American values, immigration laws, and regulations,” he said in his written opening statement.

Mayorkas is testifying in front of lawmakers today and he’s expected to be grilled on the surge of migrants being held at the border, causing officials scramble to provide resourcesfor the increasein minorsand families.

Here is what Mayorkas says the US needs to do about the current situation:

Address the root of the problem by engaging with governments to alleviate violence and corruption that drives migrants from their homes.Work with humanitarian organizations to provide protection for migrants as close to home as possible. These are things like refugee resettlement and family reunification programs.Help other countries in the region improve their asylum capabilities and protect migrants.Improve the system for processing migrants at the border and get to their asylum claims in a “fair and timely way.”

“While these efforts will dramatically improve migration management in the region and help to restore safe and orderly processing at the border, they will take time, as the President noted. Addressing longstanding challenges after the dismantling of the system cannot be accomplished overnight,” Mayorkas said.

Here is what he wants to change about the immigration system:

“We are rebuilding an immigration system that was systematically dismantled during the prior administration. We are making risk-based investments in our border management system to create safe, legal, and humane pathways to asylum and humanitarian protection,” he said.

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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in his written opening statement that the department is facing a variety of problems right now – including the current situation at the border, which he said is “undoubtedly difficult.”

Mayorkas is testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee where he is expected to face questions about the ongoinginflux of migrantsat the US-Mexico border.

Mayorkas pointed to the ongoing influx of children, testifying that the department has increased its capacity to hold children until the Department of Health and Human Services can shelter them while it identifies and vets the children’s sponsors. He also pointed to FEMA’s involvement in this effort.

As of Tuesday, more than300 unaccompanied migrant childrenhad been in Border Patrol custody for more than 10 days, CNN has learned. More than 4,200 minors were in custody, with an average time of 120 hours.

“The Department must do this important work while always remaining faithful to the law, our mission, and our country’s values,” he said in his opening statement.

Here are the areas where Mayorkas said the department is focusing its efforts:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is testifying before lawmakers this morning in a House committee, where he is expected to face questions about the ongoinginflux of migrantsat the US-Mexico border.

His appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee comes as the Biden administrationstruggles to accommodate the growing number of childrencrossing the US-Mexico border alone against the backdrop of a pandemic that’s strained resources, particularly shelter space.

As of Tuesday, more than300 unaccompanied migrant childrenhad been in Border Patrol custody for more than 10 days, CNN has learned. More than 4,200 minors were in custody, with an average time of 120 hours.

Mayorkas, who is testifying on Capitol Hill for the first time sincehis confirmation, said the situation at the border was “difficult” and acknowledged that children are not being transferred to US Department of Health and Human Services custody within the three-day legal limit.

Some more background: HHS has not had the capacity to take the number of unaccompanied children encountered at the border, he added. Federal law requires unaccompanied children to be turned over within 72 hours to HHS, which oversees a shelter network designed to house minors.

In February, more than 9,400 unaccompanied children — ranging in ages — crossed the US-Mexico border, according to thelatest available datafrom Customs and Border Protection. That’s up from January and is expected to continue trending upward.

On Tuesday, President Joe Bidendiscouraged would-be migrantsfrom coming to the United States, telling ABC, “I can say quite clearly: Don’t come.”

Children are alternating schedules to make space for one another in confined facilities, some kids haven’t seen sunlight in days, and others are taking turns showering, often going days without one.

That’s the reality for the thousands ofunaccompanied migrant childrenheld up in US Border Patrol custody for days on end, according to case managers, attorneys and Border Patrol agents.

Bunk beds have been brought in to one of the processing facilities to help accommodate the influx of children. “Some of those are up to three bunks high,” an agent told CNN, adding that children are also sleeping on plastic cots and mats on the floor and benches.

Customs and Border Protection is on pace to encounter more individuals on the border than in the last 20 years, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday, adding that the agency is coming across children as young as six and seven years old.

More than 300 unaccompanied migrant children have been in Border Patrol custody for more than 10 days, CNN has learned. More than 4,200 minors are currently in custody, with an average time of 120 hours.

With an increasing number of children crossing the US-Mexico border alone, Border Patrol facilities are where kids have to stay until officials can transfer them to shelters that are appropriate for them. These facilities are designed to care for adults, not kids, and are akin to jail-like facilities with concrete walls and benches.

Children at stations in the Tucson, Arizona, region, for instance, have to be transported from Border Patrol stations to a central coordination center to get showers, the Border Patrol agent told CNN.

“There are kids that have been there days and days,” the agent said, pointing out that the agency is abiding by the law to care for children, except it is unable to meet the 72-hour legal requirement. “You just can’t right now.”

Federal law requires unaccompanied children to be turned over within 72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees a shelter network designed to house minors.

The senior official heading Customs and Border Protection, Troy Miller, told reporters that minors receive three meals daily, have 24/7 access to snacks and drinks and that showers are provided at least every 48 hours. They also have access to a recreation area, Miller said.

Read more here.

The statistics are staggering.More than 400,000 migrant childrenhave crossed the US border without their parents since 2003.

And each time a new wave arrives, political controversy follows.

The numbers are on the riseagain,with some children arriving who are as young as 6 or 7. This increase is sparkingfierce debatein Washington,concern from children’s advocatesandan emergency response from the Biden administration.

Why have so many kids madethis dangerous journey? And what happens to them once they reach the United States?

Here are some of the key things we know:

They’re fleeing desperate conditions: There aremany different reasonsmigrant children travel alone to the United States. CNN’s years of reporting at the border and conversations with experts reveal a common thread: It’s not a decision any family makes lightly.

Many of these children, who the government dubs “unaccompanied minors,” make asylum claims when they arrive becausethey’re fleeing persecution, gang violence and other forms of organized crime.Dire economic circ*mstances in their home countries may also contribute to their decisions to leave.

Many already have family members living in the United States: Children who cross the border alone are first held in Customs and Border Protection custody, then transferred to shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services, where they’re held until they’re released to sponsors in the United States.

Changing policies are giving them a chance — for now:

So why are we seeing another surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border now? There aremany contributing factors at play in migrants’ home countries– and also a big change the Biden administration made.

Officials recently ended a controversial Trump administration policy that was put in place during the pandemic. That policy, which cited public health concerns, allowed the US government to kick out children who came to the border without giving them a chance to seek asylum. Critics said it flew in the face of international law and human rights norms, and endangered the lives of children seeking safety.

The Biden administration hasstressed that the border isn’t open, and officials have pledged to turn back most adults and families who cross. But Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says the cases of unaccompanied minors are different.

Read more here.

PresidentBidenexpanded on immigration policies his administration hopes to implement, attempting to draw a major distinction between his policies and that of the Trump administration, something the administration has been focused on as the number of migrants in custody at thebordersurges.

“What do you do with an unaccompanied child that comes to theborder? Do you repeat what Trump did, take them from their mothers, to move them away, hold them in cells, et cetera? We’re not doing that. So what we’re doing is we have brought in HHS and also brought in FEMA to provide for enough safe facilities for them to not — to get out of the control of theborderpatrol, which are not designed to hold people for long periods of time, particularly children, get them out of those facilities,”Bidensaid during an interview with ABC News this morning.

He added that many of the unaccompanied children come to theborderwith a phone number and his administration is working on setting up a system that would allow the US government to contact that number and determine, within seven days, if there is a safe and secure place for that child to go.

CNN has reportedthat more than 300 unaccompanied migrant children have been inBorderPatrol custody for more than 10 days, and that more than 4,200 minors are currently in custody, with an average time of 120 hours.

Bidenalso stressed that those seeking asylum should remain where they are as the administration works to set up the system of applying for asylum in place.

“We’re in the process of getting set up, and it’s not going to take a whole long time, is to be able to apply for asylum in place, so don’t leave your town or city or community. We’re going to make sure we have facilities in those cities and towns run by DHS and also access with HHS, the health and human services to say, you can apply for asylum from where you are right now. Make your case. We’ll have people there to determine whether or not you are able to meet the requirements and you qualify for asylum,” he said.