During an interview with ABC’s “Start Here” podcast released on Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas responded to a question on whether the exemption for unaccompanied minors from President Joe Biden’s border order will encourage people to send their children across alone by stating that “the reality is that desperate parents are sending their unaccompanied children now” and they believe the exemption for unaccompanied minors is the right humanitarian position to take.
Host Brad Mielke asked, [relevant exchange begins around 8:35] “I believe there are exceptions for minors. The big question right now appears to be, if a minor — if an unaccompanied minor still can perhaps get into the country and apply for asylum, does that encourage more parents to send their kids across the — like, it’s almost preferable in that case to send them alone?”
Mayorkas answered, “Brad, the reality is that desperate parents are sending their unaccompanied children now. And we felt that it was the correct humanitarian thing to do, adhering to our values, to exclude unaccompanied children from operation of this rule. There are other exceptions as well. For example, somebody with an emergent, acute medical condition, somebody who’s suffered a severe form of trafficking. These are humanitarian measures that we have taken.”
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