Refugee agency to fast-track release of some migrant children with parents in the U.S.
CBSN
The federal agency charged with housing unaccompanied migrant minors issued guidance on Monday directing shelters to expedite the release of some children with parents or legal guardians in the U.S. willing to care for them, according to an internal memo obtained by CBS News.
This guidance is the Biden administration's latest effort to address the soaring number of unaccompanied minors crossing the southern border and straining the U.S. government's capacity to house them in child-appropriate facilities. By releasing children already in custody more quickly, the government can make additional beds available for new arrivals. Over the weekend, approximately 5,000 unaccompanied minors were stranded in short-term Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, most of which are not designed to hold children. Many have not been transferred out of U.S. border custody because of a lack of bed space at shelters overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.