Biden admin seeking billions more for housing migrant families

The Biden administration is seeking congressional approval, and funding, for a temporary housing program for migrant families that illegally cross the southern border. It is a plan that is intended to give them more freedom than traditional detention, according to Axios.

The administration is asking for the funds as part of a $40 billion emergency funding request to Congress. The request includes nearly $2.7 billion for the Department of Homeland Security's various border efforts.

This request comes amid more bad news at the border for the Biden administration.

Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) recorded more than 130,000 arrests along the southern border in July, compared with 99,545 in June, reported the Daily Mail citing a source close to the Border Patrol. 

“The spike is greatest in southern Arizona in the region around Ajo. The Tucson sector recorded 40,000 arrests last month, making it the highest monthly total in 15 years. (The numbers were first reported by the Washington Post.)”

People can be seen standing in front of a giant fan at the Ajo Border Patrol station near Tucson, with images of people in cages in 110+ degree weather.

“Migrant advocacy groups condemned the practice of caging arrivals but officials said they were forced to use outdoor facilities as they struggle to manage the surge,” according to the outlet.

“It is bad news for the Biden administration. The pictures of people held inside wire fences provide a visual echo of families caged under the Trump administration.”

But now DHS wants the ability to use funds to set up new types of facilities to hold migrant families while they go through an expedited asylum and deportation process, according to Axios.

“Migrant family members would be able to come and go as they please during the day, but would be required to check in and stay the night on the campus,” a DHS official told Axios.

"We do not view this as family detention," the official said.

They claim the facilities would allow immigration agencies to more easily keep track of migrants throughout the asylum process, while easing the burden on local shelters near the border.