The Biden administration has ordered the government's disaster emergency agency&nbsp;to help with a surge in migrant children crossing the southern border that has overwhelmed processing facilities.

The Health and Human Services (HHS) department is currently holding about 8,800 migrant children and the US Customs and Border Protection has hundreds more in their charge, with more arriving every day. In February alone CBP detained 9,457 unaccompanied migrant children at the southern border.

Facilities are overcrowded and authorities are doubly&nbsp;challenged by restrictions related to Covid-19.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, to this end, on Saturday called upon the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support an effort to temporarily house thousands of children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone amid criticisms that authorities were holding them for long periods in overcrowded facilities.

"Our goal is to ensure that unaccompanied children are transferred to HHS as quickly as possible, consistent with legal requirements and in the best interest of the children," Mayorkas said in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that FEMA would be part of a 90-day effort to ensure the children are safely sheltered and transferred to people who will take care of them, usually relatives already living in the United States.

"The federal government is responding to the arrival of record numbers of individuals, including unaccompanied children, at the southwest border," the department said. "Since April 2020, the number of encounters at the border has been rising due to ongoing violence, natural disasters, food insecurity, and poverty in the Northern Triangle countries of Central America."

The nearly two-month-old government of President Joe Biden faces growing pressure from migrants, apparently encouraged to try to enter the United States by his rejection of previous president Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy toward undocumented immigrants.

While migrant adults and families continue to be sent back to Mexico when they are caught, unaccompanied children are being processed and get help resettling with US relatives.

(with inputs)

The Biden administration has ordered the government's disaster emergency agency to help with a surge in migrant children crossing the southern border that has overwhelmed processing facilities.

The Biden administration has ordered the government's disaster emergency agency to help with a surge in migrant children crossing the southern border that has overwhelmed processing facilities. The Health and Human Services (HHS) department is currently holding about 8,800 migrant children and the US Customs and Border Protection has hundreds more in their charge, with more arriving every day. In February alone CBP detained 9,457 unaccompanied migrant children at the southern border. Facilities are overcrowded and authorities are doubly challenged by restrictions related to Covid-19. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, to this end, on Saturday called upon the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support an effort to temporarily house thousands of children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone amid criticisms that authorities were holding them for long periods in overcrowded facilities. "Our goal is to ensure that unaccompanied children are transferred to HHS as quickly as possible, consistent with legal requirements and in the best interest of the children," Mayorkas said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that FEMA would be part of a 90-day effort to ensure the children are safely sheltered and transferred to people who will take care of them, usually relatives already living in the United States. "The federal government is responding to the arrival of record numbers of individuals, including unaccompanied children, at the southwest border," the department said. "Since April 2020, the number of encounters at the border has been rising due to ongoing violence, natural disasters, food insecurity, and poverty in the Northern Triangle countries of Central America." The nearly two-month-old government of President Joe Biden faces growing pressure from migrants, apparently encouraged to try to enter the United States by his rejection of previous president Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy toward undocumented immigrants. While migrant adults and families continue to be sent back to Mexico when they are caught, unaccompanied children are being processed and get help resettling with US relatives. (with inputs)

US orders emergency agency to help with child migrant surge

France demanded on Friday that Britain take in hundreds of minors from war-torn countries after the British interior minister suggested that Paris should do more for them following the closure of the &quot;Jungle&quot; migrant camp in the northern French port city of Calais.

Bulldozers are flattening the sprawl of ramshackle huts and tents which had been home to about 6,000 refugees and migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa hoping to cross the English Channel and start new lives in Britain.

Most have now been bussed to other centres across France pending examination of their cases. But the plight of hundreds of minors roaming the area, nearly 1,500 of whom have signed up for temporary lodging in container-boxes in Calais, has become a point of dispute.

British Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Amber Rudd told her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve on Friday that his government must guarantee the protection of youngsters left in limbo after the evacuation of the &quot;Jungle&quot;.

&quot;Any child either eligible or not in the secure area of the camp should be cared for and safeguarded by the French authorities. We understand that specialist facilities have been made available elsewhere in France to ensure this happens,&quot; Rudd&#39;s spokesman quoted her as saying.

Cazeneuve replied that Britain should &quot;quickly execute its responsibilities to take in these minors, who hope to come to the United Kingdom. This is the best way to give them the protection they are due,&quot; he said.

The head of France&#39;s Ofpra refugee agency, Pascal Brice, put it more bluntly. &quot;We&#39;ve done Britain&#39;s work in tending to the adults,&quot; he told Reuters. &quot;The least they can do is take care of the isolated minors who are now at the CAP (temporary lodgings) and who have an interest in going to Britain.&quot;

French government officials in the region say that 1,451 minors are in the container-box lodgings. Britain has so far accepted 274 children from among this group, France says. European Union rules say Britain must take in unaccompanied children who have family ties there. An amendment to those rules adopted in Britain this year states that such minors whose best interests are served by doing so should also be admitted.

&nbsp;

DEBRIS

Aid groups say hundreds if not thousands more adults and minors may have fled into the hinterland around the &quot;Jungle&quot;, ready to return when the heavy police presence wanes. Smoke and dust floated over the heart of the site on Friday, as bulldozers cleared mounds of debris and rubbish, watched from afar by a group of youngsters who had slept outdoors in an area that once serve as a school for camp-dwellers. Charity workers gave them food on Friday.

Abdul Hadi, an Afghan youth who gave his age as 16, said he spent 10 months in the &ldquo;Jungle&rdquo; but failed to register with the French authorities for help when the evacuation on Monday. &quot;I hope I can get to the UK this week,&quot; he said.

Serge Szarzynski, head of social affairs in the Calais area, told Reuters a solution would be found for Hadi and the youths with him.

(Reuters)

The French reacted to the British interior minister's suggestion that more could be done to shelter the at-risk minors

France demanded on Friday that Britain take in hundreds of minors from war-torn countries after the British interior minister suggested that Paris should do more for them following the closure of the "Jungle" migrant camp in the northern French port city of Calais. Bulldozers are flattening the sprawl of ramshackle huts and tents which had been home to about 6,000 refugees and migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa hoping to cross the English Channel and start new lives in Britain. Most have now been bussed to other centres across France pending examination of their cases. But the plight of hundreds of minors roaming the area, nearly 1,500 of whom have signed up for temporary lodging in container-boxes in Calais, has become a point of dispute. British Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Amber Rudd told her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve on Friday that his government must guarantee the protection of youngsters left in limbo after the evacuation of the "Jungle". "Any child either eligible or not in the secure area of the camp should be cared for and safeguarded by the French authorities. We understand that specialist facilities have been made available elsewhere in France to ensure this happens," Rudd's spokesman quoted her as saying. Cazeneuve replied that Britain should "quickly execute its responsibilities to take in these minors, who hope to come to the United Kingdom. This is the best way to give them the protection they are due," he said. The head of France's Ofpra refugee agency, Pascal Brice, put it more bluntly. "We've done Britain's work in tending to the adults," he told Reuters. "The least they can do is take care of the isolated minors who are now at the CAP (temporary lodgings) and who have an interest in going to Britain." French government officials in the region say that 1,451 minors are in the container-box lodgings. Britain has so far accepted 274 children from among this group, France says. European Union rules say Britain must take in unaccompanied children who have family ties there. An amendment to those rules adopted in Britain this year states that such minors whose best interests are served by doing so should also be admitted. DEBRIS Aid groups say hundreds if not thousands more adults and minors may have fled into the hinterland around the "Jungle", ready to return when the heavy police presence wanes. Smoke and dust floated over the heart of the site on Friday, as bulldozers cleared mounds of debris and rubbish, watched from afar by a group of youngsters who had slept outdoors in an area that once serve as a school for camp-dwellers. Charity workers gave them food on Friday. Abdul Hadi, an Afghan youth who gave his age as 16, said he spent 10 months in the “Jungle” but failed to register with the French authorities for help when the evacuation on Monday. "I hope I can get to the UK this week," he said. Serge Szarzynski, head of social affairs in the Calais area, told Reuters a solution would be found for Hadi and the youths with him. (Reuters)

France says Britain can keep at-risk kids from Calais 'Jungle' camp

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US orders emergency agency to help with child migrant surge

France says Britain can keep at-risk kids from Calais 'Jungle' camp