Immigration along the southern border of the United States: About 14 thousand children are in the care of the authorities

Senior US government officials told reporters on Thursday that 9,562 children are under the care of the Department of Homeland Security and about 4,500 by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. “Our ultimate goal is to reunite unaccompanied children with their loved ones or sponsors in the United States as quickly as possible,” said one officer. About 90 percent of minors can be released from authorities’ custody in this way.

The number of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United States has recently increased significantly. According to border guard data, nearly 9,500 minors crossed the border in February alone – nearly double the number in December. Unaccompanied families and adults will be expelled from the US authorities, but unaccompanied children will not be expelled. President Joe Biden’s government has recently come under fire for its high number of underage immigrants. According to media reports, they are sometimes housed and fed in poor conditions.

Former President Donald Trump had made strict sealing of the southern border one of his priorities. The Biden government has already undertaken a partial review of this policy. Biden’s Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayoras said on Tuesday that the government expects another significant increase in the number of refugees and migrants arriving. She said there could be more people than it has been in the past 20 years. Mexico is often just a transit stop, and half of the migrants come from Central America – for example from Honduras or Guatemala.