by El Paso Matters Staff, El Paso Matters
March 23, 2021

The Biden administration, facing criticism from Congress and the public over how it is responding to large numbers of migrants entering the United States, released videos on Tuesday of Border Patrol migrant centers in El Paso and Donna, Texas.

The administration has refused to allow media into the migrant holding facilities, including the large Border Patrol facility off of Hondo Pass in Northeast El Paso. The Trump administration allowed media visits to such facilities in 2019, though not at the height of the migrant humanitarian crisis.

The El Paso video appears to feature families being housed there while awaiting either release or expulsion to Mexico, as well as children who arrive at the border without a parent or guardian. The Border Patrol holds such children until they can be transferred to shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Conditions in the video do not appear as crowded as in 2019. However, social distancing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are not being followed and mask wearing is intermittent. The video was shot March 19, according to the Border Patrol.

This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

SOURCE: El Paso Matters Staff
VIA: elpasomatters.org
MAIN IMAGE SOURCE: Click here