Thousands of families and children have attempted to enter the U.S. and Texas launches Operation Lone Star to combat migrant crisis.
The South Texas Special Operations Group is a highly trained tactical team whose carry out missions along the Texas-Mexico border region or wherever needed especially in remote areas where law enforcement cannot operate. Their focus is to detect and prevent crime usually associated with drug cartels.
On March 16, 2021, this specialized group assisted U.S. Border patrol in Roma and saved a 6-month-old female child who had been thrown into the Rio Grande River by smugglers. Texas Department of Public Safety reported that the infant’s mother had been assaulted and had her leg broken by smugglers in Mexico.
There were many changes to U.S. immigration policies. Under the new Biden administration, Trump’s immigration policies were reversed. President Biden’s immigration policy will not expel unaccompanied minors. A White House spokesperson said that Mr. Biden desires to approach immigration issues “comprehensively, fairly and humanely.”
Thousands of children who crossed the border alone are being detained at the detention center for unaccompanied children. These children are being placed under Covid-19 quarantine for 10 days and then shuttled to shelters around the country. Surge of unaccompanied migrant kids at U.S. border led to overcrowded border facilities. Oscar Escamilla, executive officer of the U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, confirmed that there are 4100 people at their facility and 3,400 of them children. The U.S. migrant housing facility at Donna, Texas, is operating above it carrying capacity.
Biden administration faced criticism over how his administration is treating children in its custody and handling migrant housing crisis.