Psaki Slams Trump's 'Immoral' Immigration Policies

As the Biden administration is grappling with an overflow of immigrant children, White House press secretary Jen Psaki Wednesday sought to put distance between current policies and those of the Trump presidency.

"What we are not doing, what the last administration did was separate those kids, rip them from the arms of their parents at the border," she said. "We are not doing that - that is immoral."

With its long-term facilities for immigrant children nearly full, the Biden administration is working to expedite the release of children to their relatives in the U.S.

U.S. Health and Human Services on Wednesday authorized operators of long-term facilities to pay for some of the children's flights and transportation to the homes of their sponsors. Under the agency's current guidelines, sponsors can be charged for those flights and required to pay before the government will release children, even if the sponsors have been vetted by the government.

Those costs can sometimes exceed $1,000 per child.

An internal memo sent Wednesday and obtained by The Associated Press authorizes facility operators to use government funding for transport fees "in the event that a sponsor is not able to pay fees associated with commercial airfare, and a child's physical release would be otherwise delayed." HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

HHS has drastically cut its capacity due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all of the department's 7,100 beds for immigrant children are full. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents are apprehending an average of more than 200 children crossing the border without a parent per day.

HHS reopened a surge facility at Carrizo Springs, Texas, that can hold up to 700 teenagers, and may soon reopen another site at Homestead, Florida. While they have beds, classrooms and dining areas, surge facilities cost an estimated $775 per child per day and are not subject to the same licensing requirements as regular facilities. Democrats sharply criticized them during the administration of former President Donald Trump, and news of Carrizo Springs' reopening has drawn criticism from some Democrats as well as Republicans who argue Trump was unfairly blamed.

"There has been some there were some delays last week because of weather and because some of these facilities to safely move these kids to did not have power," Psaki told reporters.

"Some, unfortunately, did say four days, five days or longer, but the objective is to move them as quickly as possible to the HHS sponsored facilities."

Experts on the detention of immigrant children say HHS needs to relieve pressure on its overall system by changing how it works and that opening surge facilities does not resolve underlying problems.

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