US orders emergency agency to help with surge of migrant children

Joe Biden’s administration enlists FEMA to support effort to temporarily house thousands of children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone.

The United States government has ordered an emergency agency that usually responds to floods, storms and other major disasters to help care for a growing number of migrant children arriving at the US-Mexico border. Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said on Saturday that he would deploy the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “to help receive, shelter and transport the children” during the next 90 days. The move signals the scope of a growing humanitarian and political crisis for US President Joe Biden, a Democrat who took office on January 20. The increased arrivals come as Biden has reversed some of the restrictive policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican.