
U.S. expands immigration program for Central American children
Officials have portrayed the program as an alternative to the often dangerous trek migrant children take to reach the U.S. southern border.
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Camilo Montoya-Galvez is an award-winning reporter covering immigration for CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple CBS News and Stations platforms, including the CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and CBS News Radio.
Montoya-Galvez is also part of CBS News' team of 2024 political campaign reporters.
Montoya-Galvez joined CBS News in 2018 and has reported hundreds of articles on immigration, the U.S. immigration policy, the contentious debate on the topic, and connected issues. He's landed exclusive stories and developed in-depth reports on the impact of significant policy changes. He's also extensively reported on the people affected by a complex immigration system.
Before joining CBS News, Montoya-Galvez spent over two years as an investigative unit producer and assignment desk editor at Telemundo's television station in New York City. His work at Telemundo earned three New York Emmy Awards.
Earlier, he was the founding editor of After the Final Whistle, an online bilingual publication featuring stories that highlight soccer's role in contemporary society.
He was born in Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, and raised in northern New Jersey.
He earned a bachelor's degree in media and journalism studies/Spanish from Rutgers University.
Officials have portrayed the program as an alternative to the often dangerous trek migrant children take to reach the U.S. southern border.
The Biden administration facilitated the reunification of seven children with their parents in May and expects to reunite an additional 29 families in coming weeks.
At the center of the standoff is a proclamation by Governor Greg Abbott that would force shelters in Texas to stop housing migrant children in federal custody.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott instructed over 50 shelters and foster care porgrams in the state to stop housing migrant children in federal custody.
U.S. immigration judges will generally be expected to issue decisions within 300 days of a family's first court hearing.
Brenda, 13, and Rosa, 15, are two of more than 45,000 migrant children who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied in the past three months.
Some parents were deported without their children even after telling ICE officers that they wanted their children to come with them, the DHS inspector general found.
The move comes amid concerns about subpar conditions and prolonged stays at Fort Bliss, a makeshift housing facility holding more than 4,500 unaccompanied minors.
By expanding eligibility for a program the Trump administration sought to end, the Biden administration is allowing an estimated 100,000 Haitian immigrants to apply for Temporary Protected Status.
Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar said she spoke to a young boy housed at Fort Bliss who told her he was depressed: "it just broke my heart."
"We will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention or substandard conditions of detention," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
Migrant children housed at an Army base reported having to wear soiled clothes and limited access to showers. Some said other minors talked about self-harm.
The Biden administration has been negotiating with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the government over the expulsions of migrant families.
Overcrowding in Border Patrol facilities has been reduced dramatically, but thousands of children continue to be housed in shelters while they wait to be released to family members in the U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden administration's decision to not expel unaccompanied minors, saying "it is the responsibility of humanity to address the needs of these children."