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The legislators from both sides have called on the Biden administration to allow reporters and journalists into facilities housing unaccompanied migrant children who have sought asylum at the US-Mexico border. The appeal for greater transparency with the American public and those who cover it comes as the United States faces a growing humanitarian crisis at its southwest border, driven by Central America’s economic devastation, climate change, gang violence, political persecution, and a new presidential administration. US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has predicted the United States is on pace to encounter more migrants at its Southwest border than in 20 years. On Sunday, President Joe Biden said that “at some point” he will be going to the border amid the ongoing surge in crossings.

US Senator Rob Portman is a ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and one of four senators who accompanied Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the border. He said that he will absolutely push to open Custom and Border Protection (CBP) facilities to journalists amid calls for transparency. Portman added, “This should be transparent. It’s amazing to me how little my constituents know about what’s going on down along the border. It is a situation spiraling out of control”. US Senator Chris Murphy is chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security. He also participated in the trip to the US-Mexico border. He said that opening up access to media coverage is something that we should all press the administration to do better on.

Murphy said, “We want to make sure that the press has access to hold the administration accountable. That’s the reason I was there, to hold them accountable. And they’ve seen a surge that began last year that began under the Trump administration, but it’s real. It’s pressing their resources”. On Saturday morning, at least 5,000 unaccompanied minors remained in a CBP tent holding facility in south Texas and other stations along the border with Mexico. The government record shows that unaccompanied children are spending an average of 136 hours in CBP custody, far beyond the 72-hour legal limit. The Department of Health and Human Services was also housing nearly 10,500 unaccompanied children in emergency housing facilities and shelters licensed by states to care for minors.