© The Associated PressThe Associated Press
Border agents encountered more than 9,400 unaccompanied migrant minors crossing the border last month, a significant spike that reveals the extent of a recent influx that has strained government resources and sent the Biden administration scrambling.
The February data, released Wednesday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, marks the highest monthly total in border crossings by unaccompanied minors since a surge in migration in spring 2019.
In total, agents apprehended 9,437 migrant children crossing the border alone last month - a 61% increase over the month prior.
The Biden administration has kept in place a Trump-era public health order allowing border agents to immediately expel migrants caught crossing the border illegally instead of following normal processes. President Joe Biden last month, however, exempted unaccompanied minors from the policy.
Minors are typically detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a short time before they are transferred to shelters run through the Department of Health and Human Services. CBP facilities are not designed to hold children, and agents are not trained to properly care for them. By law, CBP cannot hold migrant children for more than 72 hours before transferring them to HHS's custody.
But the current influx means migrant minors are currently being held by border agents for more than four days, documents obtained by CNN show.
By the end of February, HHS shelters were nearing 90% capacity, which had been severely reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden administration in response instructed facilities to return to pre-coronavirus capacity levels of around 13,000 beds in total. About 8,100 unaccompanied children are currently in HHS custody, according to the agency.
The administration also reopened a temporary Trump-era facility for unaccompanied migrant teens, prompting criticisms from both conservatives and progressives. Officials are reportedly looking into opening more facilities in the future.
Overall migration increased in February as well. Border agents reported 100,441 encounters in total, up from about 78,400 in January. The figure does not, however, accurately represent migration flow at the border. The vast majority - about 71,500 - of border encounters last month involved single adults with high levels of recidivism because of the current border order, meaning that the total number of encounters likely double or triple-counts individuals who have crossed multiple times.
Border encounters with migrants crossing in family units also spiked, more than doubling from 7,294 in January to 19,249.
Some migrant families have not been expelled at the border. The Biden administration is reportedly moving to eliminate long-term migrant family detention.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly urged migrants not to travel to the border.
Roberta Jacobson, Biden's border czar, stressed during a press briefing Wednesday that the border is closed, repeating the sentiment multiple times in Spanish.
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