More unaccompanied minors are arriving to migrant shelters in Tijuana, authorities reported, even though overall numbers have been decreasing over the past months.
Enrique Lucero, director of Migrant Affairs in Tijuana, told Border Report this answers to a combination of three factors: those who end up in shelters after unsuccessfully attempting to cross the border; minors who go to the area before their parents, who hope to meet them in the future; and those who are left behind by parents as they attempt to get into the country. "There's a belief that unaccompanied minors are accepted into the United States immediately and given asylum," Lucero said.
"Parents are leaving their children behind with their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and they go to the United States, but at times, the relatives can't take care of the minors and they end up in shelters," he added.
Minors are exempted from the Biden administration's executive order that heavily restricts asylum-seeking once a certain threshold of arrivals to the border is met. However, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services clarifies that children must have family in the country who will take responsibility for them. If Health and Human Services is unable to connect them, they could be deported.
CBP data showed that agents encountered over 90,000 unaccompanied children along the southwest border so far this year.
In early July, federal oversight of U.S. centers housing migrant children was eliminated after a federal judge's ruled in favor of the federal government, marking the end of protections for children under the Flores Agreement, a battle the government has fought since the Trump administration.
Federal Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled that the White House was correct in asserting that the Flores Agreement, which had set standards for the care of migrant children since 1997, had outlived its purpose. She agreed that new regulations would better ensure the safety of these minors. The Flores Settlement was the only legally mandated mechanism across the country to ensure that detained immigrant children were treated appropriately while in custody and were released from custody promptly.
In May, the Biden administration issued a new set of requirements and guidelines for authorities and facilities handling migrant children. However, activists have raised concerns, arguing that the end of the Flores Agreement introduces new dangers for these children.
The agreement set standards for shelters to provide food, water, adult supervision, emergency medical services, toilets, sinks, temperature control, and ventilation. It also required facilities to grant immigration lawyers access to the children.
The government claims the new regulations, effective July 1st, "apply and go beyond" the standards established in the Flores Agreement. These include creating an independent human rights advocacy office, setting minimum standards for emergency temporary shelters, and formalizing advancements in protocols for releasing children to families and sponsors and providing legal services.
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