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Pictures Reveal Unaccompanied Children’s Cramped Border Conditions

Unaccompanied migrant minors are facing crowded conditions as the Biden administration struggles to find bed space.

This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.

Pictures taken inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection tent facility in Donna, Texas, display the crowded conditions unaccompanied migrant minors are facing while they wait for the Biden administration to search for bed space. These pictures were taken by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) inside a Border Patrol facility as the government tries to find bed space for a rising number of people crossing the border. Government data shows there were fewer than 4,900 children in border officials’ custody this weekend, while more than 11,000 were in Health and Human Services’ care. About 600 children are transferred to HHS each day. BuzzFeed News

Migrants Traveling North Due to Last Year’s Hurricanes

The influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico order stems from a humanitarian crisis in Central America that has been happening for years. Citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have continuously suffered gang-related violence, frequent extortion, government corruption and poverty. Back-to-back hurricanes recently added to this list of struggles. Hurricanes Eta and Iota tore through Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala in November 2020 in a span of two weeks. According to Unicef, more than 200 people died and 5.3 million people, as well as 1.8 million children, needed assistance. They have only seen slow recovery work in the four months since. Vox 

Mexican Woman Died on California Highway After Trying to Escape Abuser

Carolina Ramírez Pérez was arranged to be married when she was still in middle school. During her time with her husband, Ramírez Pérez faced abuse, violence, threats and drunken tempers. Once he started threatening her life and brought a machete to bed, she started to plan her escape and asked friends and family to grove her money to help her and her children cross the border. Three of her children were able to cross the border safely before her. Ramírez Pérez, on the other hand, was jammed inside of an SUV with 22 other migrants, which crashed when speeding along a highway, killing her and 12 others. The Guardian 

Immigrant Activists Call Out Texas Governor

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) met with the director of the state’s Department of Public Safety  in the beginning of February to come up with two ideas about how to handle the increase of migrants at the border. Abbott then sent out 1,000 state officers to run additional air, ground and marine surveillance with the Texas National Guard. This did not sit well with immigrant rights groups, especially after the program added state police officers to interview unaccompanied minors. According to Abbott, these interviews are meant to identify victims of human trafficking. Melissa Lopez, an attorney at Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, questioned Abbott’s actions and criticized the Remain in Mexico policy. Mother Jones 

Immigration Discussed in Meetings with Mexico

On Tuesday, a U.S. delegation met with Mexican officials to talk about immigration and regional development as the number of migrants crossing the border continued to rise. The Biden administration is concerned about the number of migrant families arriving in the U.S., especially unaccompanied children. Even though the administration began cutting down Trump-era policies, it has kept some relating to the pandemic. According to a statement released by the Mexican government, two U.S. representatives met with Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to discuss “humanitarian actions to spur, in the short term, an inclusive economic development in northern Central America.” The Associated Press

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