Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Jul 14, 2025

US Border Officials Are Holding 5,000 Unaccompanied Children In Custody

US Border Officials Are Holding 5,000 Unaccompanied Children In Custody

It is the latest sign that the number of children arriving at the border is continuing to rise.
US border officials held more than 5,000 unaccompanied immigrant children in their custody at the end of this week, according to government data reviewed by BuzzFeed News, the latest sign that the number of children arriving at the border is continuing to rise.

The Biden administration has struggled to quickly transfer children out of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody and into shelters and centers operated by the Health and Human Services Department (HHS).

Many of the children have been in CBP stations and facilities for longer than 72 hours, which is the government mandated limit for children in custody. In the past several weeks, administration officials have scrambled to increase shelter capacity as an effort to cut the overcrowding in border patrol custody.

Earlier this week, HHS opened an emergency intake site specifically for minors at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The new center aims to place children in a setting more designed to their needs, according to government officials. The decision came just a few days after the agency opened up a separate emergency site in Midland, Texas.

HHS officials were opening a new site as well, they revealed on Saturday. The agency will open the Target Lodge Pecos North property as an “influx care facility” for children — it can hold around 500 children, and can expand to accommodate 2,000.

On Friday, a bipartisan group of US senators visited border facilities along with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Just met with four teenagers who made the long journey to America - one all the way from Chile; another fleeing a violent home - to seek a better life. They looked exhausted, hopeful. Remember, each “unaccompanied minor” is a human being with a story,” tweeted Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

“Just left the border processing facility. 100s of kids packed into big open rooms. In a corner, I fought back tears as a 13 yr old girl sobbbed uncontrollably explaining thru a translator how terrified she was, having been separated from her grandmother and without her parents,” he later added.

US officials have been unable to keep up with the increase in unaccompanied children at the border as they attempt to discharge them to shelters and facilities run by HHS, which are also strapped for beds. The border situation has become the latest challenge to President Joe Biden’s efforts to undo immigration policies set by his predecessor.

While the administration continues to turn back most immigrants at the southern border under Title 42, a Trump-era order that cited the threat of coronavirus spread, unaccompanied children have been the exception.

"We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years. We are expelling most single adults and families. We are not expelling unaccompanied children," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added that they were encountering many children at the border, including "six- and seven-year-old children, for example, arriving at our border without an adult."

Unaccompanied children from Central America who are picked up by Border Patrol agents are typically sent to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, where they are housed in shelters across the country as they begin officially applying for asylum and wait to be reunited with family members in the US.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
×