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Migrants at the border between Mexico and the USA (symbolic image)
Photo: JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ / REUTERS
The new US President Joe Biden started with the plan to get the situation on the southern border of the USA under control - and to revise the immigration policy of his predecessor.
But the situation there is currently deteriorating noticeably.
There are now around 14,000 unaccompanied migrant minors and refugees in the care of the authorities after they came into the country via the southern US border.
Senior officials of the US government said in a briefing for journalists on Thursday that 9,562 children are being looked after by the Department of Homeland Security and around 4,500 by the CBP.
"Our ultimate goal is to reunite unaccompanied children with a loved one or sponsor in the United States as soon as possible," one officer said.
Around 90 percent of minors could be released from the custody of the authorities in this way.
The number of migrants coming from Mexico illegally entering the USA has recently risen significantly.
According to data from the border guards, almost 9500 minors crossed the border in February alone - almost twice as many as in December.
Families and single adults will be expelled from the US authorities, but unaccompanied children will not.
Just a week ago the new US administration sent a clear warning to potential refugees.
"The border is not open," said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki at the time: "Now is not the time."
The numbers at the border are likely to continue to rise
President Biden's government was recently criticized for the high number of underage migrants.
According to media reports, they are housed and fed under sometimes poor conditions.
Biden recently announced that it would have the conditions on the southern border checked.
Former President Donald Trump had made a tough seal on the southern border one of his priorities.
The government of his successor Biden has already partially revised this policy.
Biden's Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas said on Tuesday that the government expected a further significant increase in the number of incoming refugees and migrants.
It could be more people than in the past 20 years, it said.
Mexico is often just a transit station, a good half of the migrants come from Central America - for example from Honduras or Guatemala.
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jok / dpa
