DHS Secretary: US 'will not expel' migrant children, rather we 'will care for' them

On Thursday morning, Department of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News that the United States will care for the unaccompanied children that are sent to the southern border alone without their "loving parents."

Alejandro Mayorkas said "in weeks, in several months, we will expand the legal processes that we already have started to rebuild," when asked how long migrant families should wait to send their children to the US border. "We already have reinstituted the Central American minors program that was built in the Obama-Biden administration and that was torn down by the prior administration, but we well understand that out of desperation, some children might not wait."

"Some loving parents might send their child to traverse Mexico alone, to reach the southern border, our southern border. I hope they don’t undertake that perilous journey, but if they do, we will not expel that young child. We will care for that young child and unite that child with a responsible parent. That is who we are as a nation, and we can do it," he continued.

In a recent interview with ABC News, President Biden told migrants "not to come" to the United States as a massive influx of migrants invade the southern border, creating the worst crisis recorded at the border in years.

"I want to repeat my assurance to our audience this morning that the border is in fact, secure. What we are speaking of is children, many children arriving at our border, who are fleeing poverty, violence in their countries of origin. We continue under our public health authorities, to expel families, to expel single adults, to address the needs of the pandemic, we have made a different decision than the prior administration," said Mayorkas.

Biden's DHS Secretary Mayorkas continued "We do not expel young children back into the environment of poverty and violence from which they are fleeing. And we’re seeing a number of them. And I’ve said repeatedly … that the Border Patrol station is no place for a child, and so we are working with the Department of Health and Human Services to move those children out as quickly as possible and unite them with their parent, legal guardian, or other responsible relative here in the United States."