Name: Leaked government documents spotlight Biden's child migrant dilemma
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Leaked government documents spotlight Biden's child migrant dilemma

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A group of undocumented immigrants walk toward a Customs and Border Patrol station after being apprehended. Photo: Sergio Flores/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesFresh internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show how quickly the number of child migrants crossing the border is overwhelming the administration's stretched resources.Driving the news: In the week ending March 1, the Border Patrol referred to HHS custody an average of 321 children per day, according to documents obtained by Axios. That's up from a weekly average of 203 in late January and early February — and just 47 per day during the first week of January.Meanwhile, some of President Biden's top officials responsible for immigration policy are planning a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border this weekend, sources tell Axios.Behind the scenes: HHS has already moved to open overflow shelters and to increase the speed with which it releases children to caretakers already in the U.S.The big picture: This week, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted the current situation is . Regardless, it's clear the number of children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border could fast overwhelm government systems, in ways similar to the crises in 2014 and 2019.What to watch: Internally, government officials have been sounding alarm bells. As , DHS is expecting a record number of child migrants this year.Yesterday, President Biden got the latest numbers on migrant children crossing the border, showing it's expected to hit a record 117,000 children this year. This influx of child migrants is not the first — former Presidents Trump and Obama faced similar crises. So we wanted to take a step back and look at why these surges happen. Guests: Axios' Stef Kight and Sara Fischer and Mississippi Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr. Credits: "Axios Today" is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Carol Wu, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com.Go deeper:The Senate on Thursday voted 51-50 — with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie — to proceed to debate on President Biden's , likely setting up a final vote this weekend.The state of play: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) forced Senate clerks to read the entire 628-page bill on the floor, which took nearly 11 hours and lasted until 2:05 a.m. Friday. The Senate then adjourned and is expected to reconvene at 9 a.m. to debate the bill before considering amendments. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's advisers successfully pushed state health officials to exclude certain data on the number of COVID-19 nursing home deaths from a July report, the . Why it matters: The changes resulted in a "significant undercount of the death toll attributed to the state’s most vulnerable population," the WSJ wrote. Sign up for Mike Allen’s daily Axios AM and PM newsletters to get smarter, faster on the news that matters.

A group of undocumented immigrants walk toward a Customs and Border Patrol station after being apprehended. Photo: Sergio Flores/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesFresh internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show how quickly the number of child migrants crossing the border is overwhelming the administration's stretched resources.Driving the news: In the week ending March 1, the Border Patrol referred to HHS custody an average of 321 children per day, according to documents obtained by Axios. That's up from a weekly average of 203 in late January and early...

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Jonathan Swan is a political reporter at Axios covering both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

https://www.axios.com/authors/jonathanswan

Jonathan Swan

Reporter for Axios | politics, immigration, demographics | send tips and data to stef@axios.com or stefkight@protonmail.com

Stef W. Kight

Smart Brevity worthy of people's time, attention and trust. Subscribe to our newsletters: https://bit.ly/3hMCmVn

Leaked government documents spotlight Biden's child migrant dilemma

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