20,000 child migrant beds A briefing schedu
Post# of 123741
A briefing scheduled for President Biden this afternoon outlines the need for 20,000 beds to shelter an expected crush of child migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The rapid influx of unaccompanied children is becoming the administration's first new crisis. A presentation created by the Domestic Policy Council spells out the dimensions with nearly 40 slides full of charts and details.
Driving the news: On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said from the White House podium that the current situation is not a crisis. Today, the president will be told the number of migrant kids is on pace to exceed the all-time record by 45% — and the administration doesn't have enough beds.
Facing the growing numbers, the Department of Health and Human Services — which oversees the network of child migrant shelters — is planning to change its coronavirus protocols to make room for an additional 2,000 kids and teens, according to a source with direct knowledge of the presentation and a second congressional source.
Even with new shelters and loosened COVID-19 restrictions, the administration projects it will fall short of its needs by a couple thousand.
A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. An HHS spokesperson referred the request to the White House, which declined comment.
Between the lines: DHS currently projects there will be 117,000 unaccompanied child migrants crossing the border this year, according to information on the slides.
A large number of them are teenagers. Just last month, some 6,000 migrants aged 16 and 17 were caught, according to the slides.
HHS is expected to reach its shelter capacity later this month, according to the two sources.
What to watch: The administration is looking at ways to reduce the shelter populations by accelerating the release of children to sponsors already in the U.S., the sources said.
They plan to end a Trump-era agreement between DHS and HHS that included strict sponsor vetting requirements — a practice some advocates say had a chilling effect on sponsors' willingness to offer their homes.
HHS has already said it would pay for transportation for children when sponsors cannot, and it has proposed removing a request for Social Security numbers from the form filled out by the potential caretakers for unaccompanied minors, as Reuters reported.
Flashback: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who represents a border district, has warned about the unintended consequences of such actions.
https://www.axios.com/biden-immigration-child...c1189.html