ASSOCIATED PRESS  

Roma, Texas – 24 March 2021

1. Various rafts filled with migrants, some seeking asylum in the U.S., crossing the Rio Grande River at sunset piloted by a smuggler

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2. Various U.S. Border Patrol agents direct migrants where to dock and migrants after coming across river

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 31 March 2021

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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Howell, Senior Advisor, The Heritage Foundation:

"The Biden administration was absolutely warned in very clear, uncertain terms, what undoing all of the things the Trump administration had put in place would do, along with sending this kind of message south of the border that we're open for business. We're shutting down ICE. We're stopping building the wall. Biden's going to take care of you better. All of these things manifest in this very predictable disaster where we have this overcrowding and terrible conditions."

POOL

Donna, Texas - 30 March 2021

4. Wide pan of migrants being held in facility

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 31 March 2021

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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Deepak Bhargava, Co-Editor, Immigration Matters:

"There were efforts by the Obama administration to allow kids and parents to apply for asylum in their home countries. The Trump administration shut those down. The Trump administration wouldn't allow children to come to the United States to seek asylum, so there's been a huge backlog in terms of the numbers of those kids. The Trump administration broke the system for housing kids in non-customs and border patrol facilities and humane facilities. So what we're seeing now is really the result of four years of destruction by the Trump administration."

POOL

Donna, Texas - 30 March 2021

6. Various of children in facility, covered in trauma blankets

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 31 March 2021

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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Howell, Senior Advisor, The Heritage Foundation:

"What the Trump administration did with the asylum system is they made it very, very strong in that it looked for cases where people were actually eligible. It tried to cut down the amount of cases whereby people would claim asylum as a vehicle for illegal immigration. So the Trump administration focused on those in need and took out the fraudulent claims for those who would not apply."

POOL

Donna, Texas - 30 March 2021

8. Wide of children picking up drinks under supervision of CBP officer

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 31 March 2021

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9. SOUNDBITE (English) Deepak Bhargava, Co-Editor, Immigration Matters:

"I think the Biden administration staff want to get the kids good housing and good medical care, and they believe that they deserve fair hearings under our law. We are not there now. The conditions are not acceptable now and they need to be improved. It is going to take some time. The Biden administration should be pushed to do it as fast as possible. But it's going to take a long time to recover from four years of decimation of the immigration system."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Roma, Texas – 24 March 2021

10. Small child looks on as border agents process migrants

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The Biden administration, under pressure to be more transparent, opened its main holding center for migrant children in Donna, Texas, to journalists for the first time this week.

The facility is tremendously overcrowded, holding more than 4,100 migrants in space designed for only 250. Rooms for 32 children held more than 500.

In 2019, Homeland Security watchdog reports showed extreme overcrowding, sometimes with standing-room only that made some detainees stand on toilets for air.

Conditions at the Donna facility also raised and answered questions about the risks of COVID-19 spread, transparency and the ability to handle new arrivals.

Deepak Bhargava, co-editor of Immigration Matters and Distinguished Lecturer of Urban Studies at City University of New York, says much of the current problems were caused by four years of the Trump administration tearing down the infrastructure to deal with immigration at the border.

Mike Howell, former Department of Homeland Security Counsel and current Senior Advisor with the Heritage Foundation, says the Biden administration was unprepared for the inevitable surge at the border which he says was caused by President Biden loosening immigration and asylum restrictions.