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The number of unaccompanied children picked up at the southern border reached an all-time high in July. According to David Shahoulian, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. authorities picked up about 19,000 children in July. That passed the previous high of 18,877 in March. U.S. authorities stopped migrants about 210,000 times overall at the border in July, according to preliminary numbers. Shahoulian said in the first 29 days of July, authorities encountered 6,779 people a day, as well as 616 unaccompanied children and 2,583 who crossed in families. The Associated Press
Biden Will Keep Using Title 42 to Expel Migrants
The Biden administration officially announced it would continue to use the Trump-era policy of expelling migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued a new order Monday supporting the enforcement of Title 42. Government officials argued that the expulsions were created to prevent overcrowding and COVID-19 outbreaks inside Border Patrol facilities. Walensky claimed that ending the expulsions would cause “severe overcrowding and a high risk of COVID-19 transmission” between migrants in U.S. custody and border agents. As of Sunday, Border Patrol holding facilities are at 377% capacity. CBS News
Groups Continue to Fight Over Family Expulsions
Court documents revealed various immigrant rights groups asked a federal judge to order the Biden administration to lift COVID-19 restrictions at the southern border that bar undocumented immigrants from seeking asylum. The American Civil Liberties Union, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Oxfam, RAICES and others were bargaining out of court to terminate Title 42. But when the Biden administration failed to lift the restrictions, the groups went back to court for a preliminary injunction. The Biden administration has been slowly letting in undocumented migrant families without officially lifting Title 42. NBC News
