In 2021, when the Biden administration was struggling to cope with a sudden influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border, the government overrode the concerns of lower-level workers who warned about placing them in certain households, reports the Wall Street Journal. “It does not appear safe for the minor to be released to a home environment that was not fully assessed,” a case worker wrote about a child slated to live in a hostel-like home in Florida. An official dismissed the recommendation to reject the proposed guardian. In Pomona, Calif., more than 100 children were sent to temporary guardians who were issued denials early in the process by case coordinators. Some home addresses were tied to histories of criminal activity or other behavior that indicated the possibility the children would be put to work.
Biden administration officials sometimes overlooked concerns about potential guardians as they faced a political crisis over an unprecedented surge of unaccompanied minors. Officials said they wanted to avoid the images that plagued the Trump administration of children in severely congested facilities—widely derided as “kids in cages.” Some children held in overcrowded detention centers grew severely ill or even died. Immigration has remained a top issue for November’s election. President Biden has tacked to the right on many border issues, including ordering that most migrants who cross the border illegally will be barred from asylum. Illegal border crossings are down by more than half this year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged that the government wasn’t equipped early in the administration. The department said it continued to improve program operations. Officials stressed that proposed guardians go through several layers of review and added: “Child welfare best-practices are clear that children belong with family and not in shelters.”