Federal officials are raising concerns about rising pressure from the White House to relocate unaccompanied minors to holding sites that those officials warn could pose a danger to the children-and violate a 1997 legal settlement that required the government to house minors in "Safe and sanitary" facilities.
Some officials warned against the move, arguing that it would "Result in children sitting on buses" and "Extremely dangerous ratios at the sites affected," referring to the ratio of children to adults.
The Biden administration has been grappling from the outset with a mounting crisis on the border as the federal government struggles to handle a surge of unaccompanied minors streaming into the United States from Mexico.
Health secretary Xavier Becerra has in recent weeks been casting about for a way to beef up the number of federal officials at the border, and, according to a senior government official, was considering an agency mandate that would have required 200 HHS employees to temporarily relocate to the Southern border to help stem the migrant influx.
As the crisis has intensified, administration officials from across the government have called on employees to volunteer for what one agency called a "New detail" to the border that would last between one and four months, with travel, lodging, and a per diem reimbursed by HHS. In an email sent Tuesday and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
"These children are alone, frightened, separated from family, and currently being housed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in holding areas that were not meant for children beyond a short period of time," Burrows wrote.
The email notes that volunteers will be in "Contact with migrant children and a variety of other Federal and non-Federal entities." A follow-up message containing an application link states that volunteers will "Work 12-hour shifts" and do not need to be vaccinated to deploy.
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/hhs-considered-mandate-200-employees-decamp-to-border/
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