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Xavier Becerra, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told a House Appropriations subcommittee this month that provide services to more than 21, 000 unaccompanied children who are now in the custody of HHS has become “more exhausting, more difficult, because the spaces that we are finding are less and less”.
The head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, warned this Wednesday that is not clear if many of the unaccompanied children who are in the custody of the institution “are going to have to return to their country of origin.”
In an exclusive interview with the Telemundo channel 51 about HHS priorities , Becerra said that he will take care of migrant minors while they are in his custody, but observed: “We do not really know if many of them will have to return to their country of origin.”
He added that while the minors are with “us temporarily they will know that their welfare is under our care and they will be well cared for.”
The HHS has a capacity of beds with license around 19, 500 equipped with a wide variety of services, such as education and recreation, to accommodate children crossing the US-Mexico border alone, until they can be relocated with a sponsor, such as a parent or relative.
But over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the department was operating with reduced capacity, surprising the incoming Biden administration when the number of minors crossing the southern border of the United States increased
That is why it was seen in the obligation to adapt new sites to house the thousands of immigrant children who arrive at the southern border of the country .
Biden’s management is spending at least $ 62 million dollars a week to care for non-migrant children accompanied into HHS custody, according to government data.
Thousands of children who must be reunited with their families
According to data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the HHS agency in charge of caring for minors, there are 22,676 minors under the care of the department headed by Becerra, until this Wednesday.
AND 1, 027 Immigrant children are still in the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Efforts to transfer the children found by CBP to ORR protection have paid off in recent weeks.
The urgency of the government of President Joe Biden is to comply with the provisions of the Flores Agreement, that since 1997 regulates the detention conditions of minor immigrants, including limits your seclusion under CBP to a maximum of 20 days.
Becerra highlighted in the interview with Telemundo 51 that “It is difficult to take care of so many children and young people, who come very traumatized, but we are doing it. ”
He added that“ that’s the important thing, not like in days gone by “, Referring to the government of former President Donald Trump.
The official remarked that” no matter where those children come from, he is a child and deserves to know that he We love to take care of him during the time he is with us. Who knows if he will stay, who knows if he will have to return to his country of origin. ”
In a statement sent this Wednesday, the ORR explained that in more than 80% of cases, an unaccompanied minor has a relative in the United States; and in more than 40% of the cases, that relative is a parent or legal guardian.
The agency added that after being handed over to their relatives, “immigrant minors go through immigration procedures in which they can present an application for asylum or other protection under the law ”.
With information from EFE