Migrant Youth Pipeline to U.S. Surges Nearly 600 Percent Since Trump

Migrant Youth Pipeline to U.S. Surges Nearly 600 Percent Since Trump

by JOHN BINDER 4 Mar 2021

The number of migrant youth daily referred to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for release into the United States has surged nearly 600 percent since President Trump was in office, newly released data reveals.

Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs), as Breitbart News has extensively reported, apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border have increased tremendously over the last month, where now federal shelters are estimated to be at 93 percent capacity. The UAC program takes migrant youth and places them into HHS custody until they are released to a sponsor in the U.S.

Likewise, President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has continued holding UACs in federal facilities originally intended for adult border crossers despite legal requirements that the migrant youth be turned over to HHS within 72 hours, Breitbart News exclusively reported.

Data released on Thursday reveals the extent to which the Biden administration has increased the UAC pipeline into the U.S. as a result of ending the Remain in Mexico policy, canceling cooperative asylum agreements with Central America, and restarting the Catch and Release process.

The data finds that in the first week of January, when the Trump administration still had controls in place at the southern border, DHS officials were referring about 47 UACs to HHS every day. Today, DHS officials are referring about 321 UACs to HHS every day — a more than 580 percent increase.

At the same time, HHS is boosting its release of UACs to sponsors. The data shows that while about 90 UACs a week were released to sponsors in the U.S. by HHS in late January, today an average of 174 UACs are being released every day by HHS.

The data comes as the Biden administration seeks to transform controls at the U.S.-Mexico border into rapid processing sites where border crossers and migrants are quickly processed by federal immigration officials and then released into the nation’s interior.

To alleviate the appearance of a surge of illegal immigration at the southern border, Breitbart News exclusively reported, the Biden administration is looking to release border crossers further into the U.S. interior rather than the standard where releases occur in U.S. border communities.

The Biden administration is expecting to massively expand the UAC pipeline into the U.S. by an increase of at least 290 percent over this year. In 2020, about 30,000 UACs arrived at the southern border, but administration officials estimate they will welcome about 117,000 UACs this year.

More than 87 percent of UACs in HHS custody are between 13 and 17-years-old, while more than 71 percent are boys. The most common destinations for UACs are in Harris County, Texas; Dallas County, Texas; Davidson County, Tennessee; Queens County, New York; Suffolk County, New York; Kings County, New York; Prince George’s County, Maryland; Palm Beach County, Florida; Miami-Dade County, Florida; and Los Angeles County, California.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...t-since-trump/