Nightly Nuance - May 17

Hello my friends. I want to update you on what’s happening as thousands of children arrive at the US southern border without loving adults.

There is good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good news: the government is making great strides in reducing the number of children who are in law enforcement custody. The Federal Emergency Management Association has stepped in to help transition kids from Customs and Border Patrol custody to care from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The bad news: HHS is not equipped to handle this many children and is building Emergency Intake Sites where kids are housed in unsuitable positions for too long. The communication with family members in the US who can sponsor children has been poor. There are allegations of abuse and neglect within these facilities.

Today, I want to think about why the federal government is so poorly positioned to care for kids and reunite them with families and what that might mean for future policy efforts.

Resources:

Far Fewer Young Migrants Are In Border Patrol Custody, DHS Secretary Says (NPR)

Biden administration mum on tracking migrant kids (Axios)

DHS Secretary Mayorkas testifies on unaccompanied minors at the border (PBS News Hour)

Migrant children in US living in mass shelters, little oversight (AlJazeera)

Migrant children held in mass shelters with little oversight (AP)

Biden admin reroutes billions in emergency stockpile, Covid funds to border crunch (Politico)

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