{"id":366522,"date":"2021-04-01T07:45:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T11:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=366522"},"modified":"2021-04-01T07:45:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T11:45:32","slug":"federal-officials-raise-concerns-about-white-house-pressure-to-move-migrant-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-officials-raise-concerns-about-white-house-pressure-to-move-migrant-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Officials Raise Concerns About White House Pressure to Move Migrant Children"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffederal-officials-raise-concerns-about-white-house-pressure-to-move-migrant-children%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=366522&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-14.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Federal officials are raising concerns about rising pressure from the White House to relocate unaccompanied minors to holding sites that those officials warn could pose a danger to the children\u2014and violate a 1997 legal settlement that required the government to house minors in &#8220;safe and sanitary&#8221; facilities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The latest indication of the bleak situation came Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the situation, when the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, told officials that the bureau is grappling with a White House directive <\/span><span> to send kids to Fort Bliss, an El Paso, Texas, army base that is under construction, and to an emergency influx center in San Antonio, Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Biden Administration<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some officials warned against the move, arguing that it would&nbsp;&#8220;result in children sitting on buses&#8221; and &#8220;extremely dangerous ratios at the sites affected,&#8221; referring to the ratio of children to adults. Those officials cited the 1997 Flores&nbsp;agreement between immigration groups and the federal government that requires immigration agencies to house unaccompanied minors in facilities that are &#8220;safe and sanitary.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are not going to speculate on what might be or not be internal deliberations,&#8221; HHS spokesman Mark Weber told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>, adding that &#8220;additional capacity is urgently needed to manage both enhanced COVID-19 mitigation strategies and the increasing numbers&#8221; of migrants.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration has been grappling from the outset with a mounting crisis on the border as the federal government struggles to handle a surge of unaccompanied minors streaming into the United States from Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Health secretary Xavier Becerra has in recent weeks been casting about for a way to beef up the number of federal officials at the border, and, according to a senior government official, was considering an agency mandate that would have required 200 HHS employees to temporarily relocate to the Southern border to help stem the migrant influx.<\/p>\n<p>As of late Wednesday afternoon, however, Becerra was leaning instead toward calling for 300 agency volunteers to manage cases virtually, the official said.<\/p>\n<p>Consideration of both plans came after the health secretary fell short of a promise to President Joe Biden to recruit 1,000 volunteers from across federal agencies to take paid details to the border.&nbsp;The would-be relocated employees were to be drawn primarily from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.acf.hhs.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.acf.hhs.gov\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617311796154000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGr-SQDT_ejPApNbcIROPhQ3wY6PA\">Administration for Children and Families<\/a>, a division of HHS responsible, in part, for addressing the needs of &#8220;vulnerable populations,&#8221; including migrants and refugees.<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Customs and Border Protection referred inquiries to HHS.<\/p>\n<p>The cascade of events offers a window into the increasingly desperate measures the Biden administration is considering as it struggles to process the influx of children to Border Patrol detention centers. Nearly 5,800 child migrants were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/twice-as-many-children-border-patrol-custody-biden-trump-peak-2019\">housed<\/a> at such facilities on Sunday, more than double the June 2019 record of 2,600.<\/p>\n<p>Migrant numbers are expected to rise, according to a&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/border-crossings-by-migrant-children-to-rise-sharply-according-to-internal-u-s-government-estimates-11616800942\">report<\/a>, and the Biden administration this week began releasing minors to sponsors in the United States before background checks on those sponsors were completed, raising the risk for human trafficking.<\/p>\n<p><span>Critics blame the migrant influx in part on the Biden administration\u2019s decision to toss the Trump administration\u2019s &#8220;Wait in Mexico&#8221; policy, which returned asylum seekers who entered the United States from Mexico to wait in Mexico until their cases were adjudicated. The president, by contrast, insists we are seeing a typical seasonal spike in border crossings, and the administration has refused to concede, despite mounting evidence, that it has a crisis on its hands.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the crisis has intensified, administration officials from across the government have called on employees to volunteer for what one agency called a &#8220;new detail&#8221; to the border that would last between one and four months, with travel, lodging, and a per diem reimbursed by HHS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In an email sent Tuesday and obtained by the <\/span><i><span>Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chair Charlotte Burrows asked agency employees to apply for stints at the border, the first such request in at least a decade. Burrows cited the &#8220;unprecedented influx of unaccompanied children at our Southern Border,&#8221; calling on EEOC staffers &#8220;to lend support to this humanitarian effort.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;These children are alone, frightened, separated from family, and currently being housed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in holding areas that were not meant for children beyond a short period of time,&#8221; Burrows wrote. The email was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/daily-labor-report\/federal-agencies-seek-workers-for-humanitarian-relief-at-border\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>first reported<\/span><\/a><span> by <\/span><i><span>Bloomberg Law<\/span><\/i><span>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The email notes that volunteers will be in &#8220;contact with migrant children and a variety of other Federal and non-Federal entities.&#8221; A follow-up message containing an application link states that volunteers will &#8220;work 12-hour shifts&#8221; and do not need to be vaccinated to deploy. Mental health support is also provided &#8220;as conditions may be unsettling for some,&#8221; the email states.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Department of Labor and Environmental Protection Agency have made similar appeals in recent days at the White House&#8217;s request.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Any boost in volunteers could help alleviate the strain on Border Patrol agents, some of whom have been pulled from the border to care for the migrants. Both <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/blackburn-cartels-traffickers-exploiting-unfinished-border-wall-construction\/\"><span>Republican<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/texas-dem-says-mexico-gives-him-more-info-on-border-crisis-than-biden-admin\/\"><span>Democratic<\/span><\/a><span> lawmakers have expressed concern that the move will decrease enforcement and embolden cartels looking to smuggle drugs and illegal migrants into the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A GOP congressional delegation toured the southern border over the weekend, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) lamenting what he called a &#8220;man-made crisis.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;When you gaze across a massive room with 2,200 teenage boys, it takes your breath away,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;It is tragic. It is horrific.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Collin Anderson contributed to reportin<\/em>g<em>.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n\t\t<!-- \/339474670\/Freebeacon\/InContent --><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal officials are raising concerns about rising pressure from the White House to relocate unaccompanied minors to holding sites that those officials warn could pose a danger to the children\u2014and &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311491,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-14.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Federal Officials Raise Concerns About White House Pressure to Move Migrant Children","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-14.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Federal Officials Raise Concerns About White House Pressure to Move Migrant Children","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}