Footage surfaced on social media Wednesday of another group of migrants departing Central America towards the United States as the crisis along the southern border continues to spiral out of control.
“Caravan of hundreds of migrants from Honduras start their journey to the United States,” posted The Hill on Twitter.
Caravan of hundreds of migrants from Honduras start their journey to the United States pic.twitter.com/Dd0eotvmr6
— The Hill (@thehill) March 31, 2021
From Fox News:
A rancher from New Mexico told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday that migrants have been getting “fairly close” to her house, even asking for food and water, amid the surge in illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border.
Amanda Adame noted that she gives them food and water because they “don’t want to get hurt.” She added that she typically calls Border Patrol when she sees migrants on her property.
Adame also pointed out a difference between the behavior of the migrants under the Biden administration and the Trump administration.
“When they [migrants] saw a border agent before, they stopped and they waited and now they keep trying to go,” Adame said, noting that Border Patrol agents “catch them when they see them,” but said the “big problem” is the migrants aren’t always found.
Biden has scrapped a number of Trump’s policies, which included having asylum seekers remain in Mexico instead of staying in the U.S. while they wait for their cases to be heard.
More than 15,000 unaccompanied migrant minors are in custody at federal facilities, according to recent reports. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported encounters with more than 100,000 migrants (minors and otherwise) in February alone.
When asked what her biggest concern is Adame said, “Now that the border policy has changed, what’s going to happen now?”
“What is he [President Biden] going to do with stopping asylum seekers?” she went on to ask. “I just feel sad for the people who are trying to come in legally and they can’t because of all these asylum seekers.”
Adame made the comments one day after White House officials said Vice President Kamala Harris will play a “diplomatic” role in addressing the migrants surge.
Read the full report at Fox News.
‘KIDS IN CONTAINERS?’ Press Sec Says Only a ‘Couple of Options’ for Unaccompanied Minors at the Border
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the Biden administration’s decision to re-open facilities for children crossing the US border without their parents Wednesday; saying the policies are vastly different than the Trump administration’s programs.
“You said it’s not ‘Kids in Cages.’ We’ve seen some photos now of containers. Is it ‘Kids in Containers’ instead of ‘Kids in Cages’?” asked reporter Peter Doocy.
“We have a number of unaccompanied children who are coming into the country without their families. What we’re not doing is ripping them from the arms of their parents at the border. We’re not doing that,” said Psaki.
“We can send them back, we can transfer them, or we can put them with families and sponsors without any vetting. We’ve chosen the middle option,” she added.
.@PDoocy: "Is it kids in containers instead of kids in cages?"@PressSec: "What we are not doing, what the last administration did, was separate those kids, rip them from the arms of their parents at the border. We are not doing that." pic.twitter.com/LkJdkRE2xh
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 24, 2021
Watch Psaki’s comments above.
‘CARTEL ENCOUNTER’: Ted Cruz Encounters Drug Traffickers at US-Mexico Border
From Fox News:
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has detailed how a Republican Senate delegation to the border, led by him, encountered human traffickers and cartel members yelling at them and taunting law enforcement — as they saw the crisis at the border up close.
“We have been listening to and seeing cartel members, human traffickers right on the other side of the river, waving flashlights yelling and taunting Americans, taunting the Border Patrol because they know under the current policies of the Biden administration they can flood over here,” Cruz said in a video.
“They’re getting paid $4-5000 a person to smuggle them into the country and… when they smuggle them in, the Biden administration releases them,” he said.
We encountered human traffickers & cartel members tonight, yelling at us across the Rio Grande and preparing to cross. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/yXl3AyUIPd
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 26, 2021
Republicans have been turning up the heat on the Biden administration over its handling of the surge at the border. They say that rapid reversals of Trump-era policies, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), and a narrowing of deportation priorities have encouraged migrants to make the often-dangerous journey north.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 100,000 migrants in February and that number is expected to have risen in March. There are currently more than 5,000 migrants in CBP custody and more than 11,000 in Health and Human Services (HHS) custody, and the administration is seeking to open more facilities in a scramble to house them.
Watch the incredible footage above.