The Biden administration has apprehended 243,850 unaccompanied immigrant children for entering the country illegally since February 2021, Breitbart reported on Friday.
Over that period, an average of 350 unaccompanied migrant minors have been apprehended daily by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and sent to the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2021, CBP transferred more than 127,000 to the HHS, according to Breitbart.
And seven months into 2022, Border agents have encountered more than 84,000 unaccompanied minors along the Mexican border, according to CBS News.
The HHS is responsible for assuming custody of many of the minors before releasing them prior to their court date. However, data indicates many do not show up. Of 25,638 removal orders from 2017 to 2021, more than 19,000 did not appear before authorities, Breitbart said.
"Expelling families under Title 42 has forced parents to make the unbearable choice of keeping their children with them in danger or sending them alone to safety in the United States. No family should have to make that decision," argued ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Department spokesman Eduardo Silva stated that President Joe Biden's White House has continued "to enforce its immigration laws" and encouraged migrant families to avoid sending their children unaccompanied into the U.S.
"Smugglers have no regard for the lives of migrants, and by encouraging parents to send their children alone to cross the border, smugglers are putting those children in danger of exploitation, abuse, and even death," Silva said.
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