Pressure Increases as Migrant Shelters Become Overcrowded – Documented NY

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President Joe Bidens aides are facing both internal and external pressure as they try to shelter thousands of unaccompanied migrant children, with more arriving every day. Three officials said Susan Rice, Bidens domestic policy adviser, has been hard on Health and Human Services staffers because she believes they are doing an unacceptably slow job of releasing children to sponsors. Shelter systems are overcrowded, forcing children to stay in packed border holding stations for far longer than is legally allowed. Its tense, said Mark Weber, an HHS spokesman. But its a healthy tension with high-powered folks aligned around the mission of making sure these kids are well-taken care of. Reuters

In other federal immigration news

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) nudged Biden on Thursday to increase the amount of refugees being accepted into the U.S. She said the U.S. has a responsibility to welcome foreigners facing danger at home. We have a moral responsibility in the world as every other country does, too to receive refugees who have a well-founded fear of persecution or harm [if they] return to their own country, Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. Back in February, Biden vowed to quickly enhance the badly damaged refugee resettlement program. The current refugee cap is at 15,000, the lowest its ever been since the Refugee Act in 1980. Biden promised to raise the number to 125,000 at the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. The Hill

House Republican leaders accused Vice President Kamala Harris of not being present in immigration issues, presenting the image of a milk carton with her face on it to allege shes missing at the border. Biden has placed Harris in charge of handling the border influx, and House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (La.) wanted to know why Harris wasnt personally visiting the area. If shes the vice president of the United States and the president put her in charge of this, Vice President Harris needs to go down to the border and see this for herself, he said. However Harris did hold a White House meeting regarding immigration and announced plans to visit Mexico and Guatemala. She also met with experts on why so many migrants are coming from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. HuffPost

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Pressure Increases as Migrant Shelters Become Overcrowded - Documented NY