NANCY Pelosi has placed the blame for the growing crisis at the southern border on Donald Trump as President Joe Biden finally sent help to overwhelmed ICE agents.
On Sunday, Speaker Pelosi told ABC’s This Week that the Biden administration inherited "a broken system at the border" as the number of unaccompanied minors crossing into the US continues to surge.
"This is a humanitarian challenge to all of us. What the administration has inherited is a broken system at the border, and they are working to correct that in the children's interest,” Pelosi said.
"I'm so pleased that the president, as a temporary measure, has sent FEMA to the border in order to help facilitate the children going from the 72-hour issue into where they are cared for as they are transferred into family homes or homes that are safe for them to be."
She called the actions a “transition for what went wrong before to what is right,” adding that “there are certain responsibilities that we must honor.”
“We have to have a system that accommodates that, and that is what the Biden administration is in the process of doing,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi revealed there are 600-700 more unaccompanied children arriving at the US-Mexico border than there were during the 2019 peak of minor detention during Trump's presidency.
Biden's administration admitted they are unable to add thousands of shelter beds to care for the record numbers of migrant teens and children.
Youngsters are currently stuck in crowded Border Patrol stations as the officials struggle to deal with the soaring numbers of families and minors crossing from Mexico.
More than 3,500 unaccompanied teens have been left in steel-and-concrete detention cells designed for adults as they wait for shelter beds to open up, The Washington Post reported.
Department of Homeland Security figures show minors are spending around 108 hours in border stations before being transferred – well beyond the 72-hour legal limit.
On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security called on FEMA to support the border effort for the next 90 days "to safely receive, shelter and, transfer unaccompanied children," the department said in a statement.
Biden's administration is desperate to find volunteer to crew border stations and tent sites as holding cells are crammed beyond capacity.
Biden has been criticized by Republicans for rolling back many of Trump’s immigration regulations including the “Remain in Mexico” policy that required Central American asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while US courts reviewed their claims.
Former president Donald Trump has blasted Biden over the "spiraling tsunami at the border" and warned "criminal" are surging into the United States.
"Our great Border Patrol and ICE agents have been disrespected, demeaned and mocked by the Biden Administration," Trump said.
He added that a "mass incursion" is happening with immigrants coming into the country and claimed "many have criminal records, and many others have and are spreading Covid."
"The spiraling tsunami at the border is overwhelming local communities, depleting budgets, crowding hospitals, and taking jobs from legal American workers," the former president claimed.
Trump went on to boast of his "great relationship" with Mexico and "it's wonderful president," insisting that has been "dissipated by the gross incompetence and radicalism of the people currently in charge."
He also suggested that Biden finishes off the border wall that Trump created between the US and Mexico, insisting "doing so will save thousands of lives."
"The Biden Administration must act immediately to end the border nightmare that they have unleashed onto our Nation.
"Keep illegal immigration, crime and the China Virus out of our country!"
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