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Most of the migrants come from Central American countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged a worrying situation at the U.S-Mexico border where over 9,400 unaccompanied migrant children illegally entered his country in the first two months of 2021.
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On Monday, the U.S. Border Patrol found around 4,700 people illegally crossing the border, including 1,575 migrants in the Rio Grande Valley.
This figure represents a daily average increase of 3,500 illegal crossings in February and surpasses the numbers registered in 2019.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) currently holds in custody around 8,800 migrant children. On average, 332 unaccompanied minors crossed the border in February, which represented a 60 percent increase over January.
Please call your senators. Even the shitty evil ones. Every current US senator* is descended from immigrants, plenty of whom came here “illegally.” The Dreamers need us to voice our support. https://t.co/abmitBAGu7
— Bryn Greenwood (@bryngreenwood) March 19, 2021
Most of the minors come from the Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Mayorkas acknowledged that 80 percent of them have family members in the U.S.
President Joe Biden's administration called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to open new temporary facilities to house migrant children in Texas and Arizona. It also urged the HHS to expand its shelter capacity.
The situation at the border has sparked critics from Republican lawmakers who claimed that Biden's support for an immigration bill, as well as his decision to allow people to apply for asylum, do not solve the migratory problem.
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