Mar 25 2024 17 mins 5
The Biden administration has released "over 300,000" unaccompanied immigrant children into the United States after they crossed the border illegally, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services admitted to concerned House Republicans Wednesday.
Republicans grilled HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra for details on the extent to which immigrant children have come over the border and been released into the country, including to unrelated adults, rather than being deported back to their home countries.
"Probably over 300,000 in the last three years or so," Becerra said in a rare public admission about the magnitude of the border crisis . No previous administration, including two-term presidents, have released as many children.
The figure is on par with data on the HHS website, which indicates 392,000 children have been let go to sponsors in the United States since October 2020, which includes the final four months of the Trump administration.
