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US Border Patrol deploying forces to southern border as Biden faces ‘refugee crisis’

Saturday, 27 February 2021 5:45 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 27 February 2021 6:08 PM ]

US Border Patrol agents watch over refugees after taking them into custody in Los Ebanos, Texas. (Photo by Getty Images)

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is deploying Border Patrol forces to the southern US border amid criticism over President Joe Biden’s handling of the refuges crisis.

The CBP ordered hundreds of Border Patrol agents to the southern border to deal with an influx of refugees from Latin America.

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources said the Border Patrol forces will deploy to McAllen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley Sector on March 1, and will remain there until March 31.

"It’s definitely a migrant crisis," a DHS source said. "If you put everything together, with the number of (unaccompanied) children that we have, COVID-19 and the lack of proper facilities for this type of special population, it’s definitely a migrant crisis.

A former border official said that apprehensions at the southwest border have increased over the last few weeks from between 3,200 and 3,500 to over 4,000 a day.

US media also said apprehensions at the border rose between December and January as the influx of refugees continues due to economic hardships and the COVID-19 pandemic in Central America.

Biden has come under scrutiny in recent days after he ordered the reopening of a Trump-era notorious detention center to lock up hundreds of refugee children, a move reminiscent of the former president Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

Earlier this week, the Biden administration received criticism from human rights activists and fellow Democrats in Congress for reopening the Trump-era migrant child facility.

The notorious camp in Carrizo Springs, Texas is to house 700 unaccompanied minors aged 13 to 17.

Since assuming office, Biden has moved to rescind the so-called Trump’s Muslim ban, paused the construction of the infamous Trump border wall and cancelled the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), a policy that forced asylum seekers to be returned abroad and wait outside of the US for the duration of their immigration proceeding,

The US president has, however, been criticized for not doing enough for the hapless asylum seekers and ending all harsh Trump-era immigration policies.

A former senior Trump administration official described Biden's immigration policies as "cruel" and "inhumane" during an appearance on Fox News.

Stephen Miller said Biden's immigration policies had encouraged illegal immigration, especially for unaccompanied minors, and that the president Biden had only himself to blame for needing to reopen the notorious facility.