A top border official with the Biden administration said he expects more than a million migrants will arrive at the southern border in 2021. Facilities near the border are still overcrowded.
On Tuesday, Customs and Border Protection officials gave reporters a tour of the processing site in Donna, Texas. There are more than 4,100 migrants there. Most of them are unaccompanied children.
The Donna facility is only supposed to have 250 people because of COVID. Officials say more than 2,000 migrants have been there for longer than the legal limit of 72 hours. Some children have been held for more than two weeks.
"It is out of my hands. I don't have control," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Executive Officer Oscar Escamilla. "For whatever reason they have fallen through the system or through cracks, and HHS does not have the adequate facility that is suitable for that specific demographic. And that is what we are waiting on."
The Biden administration faces criticism over transparency and the severity of the border crisis. The White House says it's a seasonal surge and that it's trying to discourage people from making the dangerous trip.
