US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has blamed the continuing crisis of children crossing the Mexican-US border on the “broken system” inherited by the Biden administration from the former US president, Donald Trump.
“The facts are these: there are more children. About 600, 700 more children, unaccompanied children, coming over the border. This is a humanitarian challenge to all of us", Pelosi told ABC News’ 'This Week' on Sunday.
“What the administration has inherited is a broken system at the border, and they are working to correct that in the children’s interest", the Democratic majority speaker said.
This comes as the Biden administration announced on Friday that it would rescind a 2018 Trump policy that allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deport caregivers picking up their migrant children incarcerated at the border.
Republicans placed the blame for the ongoing situation on Biden, for his reversal of many of the Trump immigration policies, including the 'Remain in Mexico' requirement, which decreed that Central American asylum seekers must stay south of the US border as their claims are assessed by US courts.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a southern Republican, accused the president’s policies of providing an incentive for migrants to make the perilous journey into the US.
Speaking to 'Fox News Sunday' Cassidy said it was "entirely" the responsibility of the US president for the spike in the number of migrant crossings.
“When people think they can get in, they begin sending their unaccompanied child across Mexico, where she may be kidnapped and trafficked”, Cassidy told host Chris Wallace
Cassidy also claimed without presenting evidence that US immigration officials had told migrants in Spanish that the US border was “open".
“There can be no equivocations when it comes to someone who is thinking of joining a caravan", the GOP lawmaker stated.
According to US Customs and Border Protection records, the total number of people detained at the Mexican border topped 100,000 in February — a 28 percent rise from January. Of those who made the trip, an estimated 29,000 are said to be unaccompanied minors.
In response to the burden placed on federal authorities as the situation goes forward, Biden greenlit the use of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials to “help receive, shelter and transport the children” over the coming 90 days.