Border crisis bubbling up

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick criticized the Biden administration for releasing into the United States more than 100 people who entered the country illegally and tested positive for COVID-19. Traffic at the U.S. southern border, particularly arrivals of unaccompanied minors, continues to rise.

How many children are we talking about? In the week ending March 1, the Border Patrol referred an average of 321 children per day to Department of Health and Human Services custody, Axios reported Thursday. That’s up from 47 per day in January. Axios also cited documents showing the shelters for those child migrants are at 94 percent capacity. Border officials are reportedly bracing for a surge that could peak with up to 13,000 unaccompanied minors crossing the border in May. That could exceed the 2019 surge that led to a humanitarian crisis.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about Biden’s early changes to immigration policy.