The Biden administration has asked the Pentagon to use one of its military bases to house migrant children, as Customs and Border Protection data shows border crossings hit a 15-year-high in March.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed during his Thursday briefing with reporters that the Department of Health and Human Services had requested the temporary use of Camp Roberts, an Army facility in San Miguel, Calif., to shelter unaccompanied minors.
“I can confirm that we have received a request for assistance from HHS for the potential use of Camp Roberts in California to house unaccompanied minors,” Kirby said. “I would let HHS — as I have done consistently — speak to the details of their request.
“But we are moving forward with analyzing that request for assistance right now.”
AN HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The request came as preliminary data from CBP showed that US authorities caught more than 171,000 migrants at the southern border in March, the highest monthly total in two decades.
The last time border crossings were at such a rate is believed to be April 2000, when Border Patrol agents encountered more than 180,000 migrants.
Of the 171,000 migrants, 19,000 are believed to be unaccompanied children and 53,000 are family members traveling together.
The other 99,000 are single adults.
The 171,000 figure marks a staggering jump from the 78,442 migrants who crossed the border in January, when President Biden first took office.
The Biden administration’s undoing of former President Donald Trump’s border policies has prompted a flood of Central American and Mexican illegal migrants at the US border, including thousands of unescorted children.
Central Americans looking for refuge from the Northern Triangle countries — El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — have taken these policy moves, as well as the overwhelmingly more welcoming tone from Democrats, as a sign that this president is inviting them to cross the border.
Insisting that the border was not facing a crisis, Mayorkas said in early March that the problems the agency faced should be blamed on the previous administration.
The data, however, overwhelmingly shows that migrants were flooding the border because they believed Biden would welcome them with open arms.
Late last month, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed the new president for the crisis, arguing that the “expectations” he set left migrants with the perception that they would be let into the US.
With Post wires
