Unaccompanied minors wait in line to receive food and drink from a worker at the temporary processing facility in Donna, Texas. (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection / Jaime Rodriguez Sr)
PHOENIX - There are growing calls for President Biden's administration to be more transparent about what's happening at the southern border, as the main holding center for children in Texas is overcrowded.
The space is meant for a couple of hundred people, but it is now filled with more than 4,000. On March 31, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey blamed President Biden for the surge.
"We’ve got a broken border in Arizona. We’ve got a record number of apprehensions. We've got 18,000 kids in the custody of our federal government," said Gov. Ducey, who went on to say the situation is a result of President Biden’s recent policy changes, like defunding the border wall and allowing migrants to enter the U.S with notice to appear in court.
Doug Ducey
"Take it from the President of Mexico, who is saying that Joe Biden’s rhetoric and communication is telling people in Mexico and northern triangle that they are welcome to cross the border," said Gov. Ducey.
Vice President Kamara Harris says she is working with the President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, on 'innovative ways' on preventing migrants from journeying to the United States.
"They leave because there is a lack of opportunity or it is just not safe, and so my area is to focus on the northern triangle deal with some of those issues," said Vice President Harris.
In the meantime, Pastor Magdalena Schwartz, a woman who has taken in migrants many times and worked on housing them at area churches, is now urging people to look beyond the numbers and to realize these are not just statistics, but lives.
"Some people very scared. Children, they are scared. They don’t want to separate from parents. Mother, father, and some children they don’t know what is going on," said Pastor Schwartz.