Now that President Biden is in office and immigrants and refugees are being treated like humans again, the administration is expecting an influx of unaccompanied minors that could numder over 100,000 this year.
Unlike conservative commentators who've been lighting their hair on fire in recent weeks, I don't think it's a problem that more immigrants will cross the border under the friendlier policies of the Biden administration, but we still have to do something about it.
To that end, the administration is making plans to open up more homes for unaccompanied children instead of locking them in cages in crowded shelters.
The department on Wednesday sent out new guidance to shelter operators saying they could pay for transportation for unaccompanied minors, including flights, in cases where sponsors cannot pay. Previously, providers needed special approval for that step.
The Biden administration also withdrew this week a Trump administration proposal that advocates said would have kept children in government custody for longer periods of time. [...]
The Biden administration simultaneously proposed its own changes this week to several forms used related to custody requests by potential sponsors of unaccompanied children.
As part of the changes, which could go into effect after 60 days, HHS would no longer ask sponsors for their Social Security numbers on the forms.
Axios separately reported this morning that the administration will relax strict vetting requirements for sponsors that were put in place by the Trump regime. The requirements dramatically reduced the number of people willing be sponsors.
In all, the Department of Homeland Security in internally projecting that the number of kids crossing the border this year will increase by 45 percent and reach a new record high of over 117,000.
Conservatives will see it as an invasion but I see it as a tragedy that so many teenagers and children feel they have no other choice but to take their chances in our convoluted immigration system. They don't want to be exploited, killed by cartels, or live in poverty for the rest of their lives. They obviously feel as though they have a better chance here than they do where they came from or else they wouldn't come here.
We've all made tough decisions in our lives, but we're fortunate that we never had to make a decision like that.